The Sunweb travel group has confirmed it is pulling out of its takeover of Dutch tour operator Corendon.

‘We regret to make this announcement as Sunweb Group has invested significant time and resources into making this transaction happen,’ chief executive Mattijs ten Brink said in a statement on Thursday.

The decision was taken because the date for the conclusion of the sale and purchase agreement was reached ‘without all requirements being satisfied,’ Ten Brink said.

Corendon, however, has decided to challenge the decision and has applied to Amsterdam district court to force the takeover to go ahead.

The takeover of Corendon by Swedish investment house Triton via the Sunweb holiday group was announced in June 2019, before the start of the coronavirus pandemic. It was cleared by the Dutch competition authority in October.

‘This approval made the takeover definitive,’ Corendon director Steven van der Heijden said. ‘This is the typical behaviour of an investment company which does not feel like making such a takeover given coronavirus.’

Sunweb said it was only confirming it was ditching the deal because of Corendon’s decision to go to court and to ‘ensure accurate and factual information as the legal proceedings will become public’.

Hotels

The agreement consisted of the Corendon tour operating activities in the Netherlands and Belgium, the back-office operations in Turkey and Corendon Dutch Airlines. It also includes Corendon´s brands Karin’s Choice, Maris Life, Stip, and GOfun.

The Turkish and European airline and the hotels owned by Corendon Hotels & Resorts were not part of the transaction and financial details were not disclosed.

Corendon was launched as a specialist in holidays to Turkey in 2000 and now provides summer and winter breaks for some 750,000 people a year. The company booked turnover of €515m in 2018