Sterling Holiday enjoys good times

Sterling Holiday Resorts hit a new 52-week high today at Rs.98, with almost 2 times jump in volumes.

The stock hit a high on unconfirmed news that Thomas Cook was looking to take over the company and was said to be in ‘advanced talks’ to buy the company at a rate which is at 36% premium to the market price. Thomas Cook is said to be making an offer at Rs.125/share.

If one can recollect, this was the first company to launch the very concept of Timeshare holidays which is now a norm with most such resorts like Mahindra Holiday. The company plunged into losses in 2007 and was debt-ridden, defaulting on payments. Then the founders son tookover and he roped in Bay Capital, owned by his classmate to invest Rs.50 crore in the company and since then it turned around. It posted its first profit after a long time in Q1FY14. This brought in Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and R.Damani to invest in the company. Today, the chief promoter Bay owns 13.67%, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has a 3.67% stake, Radhakrishna Damani owns 6.47% and Amit Goela, ex-CEO of Alchemy, owns around 2.35%.