Thomas Cook buys Co-Op out from travel stores business for 56 mln stg

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LONDON, Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) 6 (Reuters) - British tourism company Thomas Cook said it would pay 55.8 million pounds ($71 million)to take full control of a jointly owned network of 764 travel shops in Britain which it had run with partner The Co-operative Group.

Thomas Cook (Frankfurt: A0MR3W - news) said on Tuesday that the deal for it to buy minority stakes in the network came about after the Co-Op announced plans to exit the joint venture.

"This purchase gives us full control over our retail store network, enabling us to better integrate our stores with our online offering," Thomas Cook Chief Executive Peter Fankhauser said in a statement.

($1 = 0.7847 pounds) (Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Kate Holton)