 On 9 October 2019, independent travel agent Hays Travel announced that it had acquired all 555 former Thomas Cook travel stores in the UK, and planned to re-employ a "significant number" of former employees.Hays, which already operated 190 of their own stores, expected to retain over 25% of the retail staff, saving roughly 2,500 jobs.On 30 October 2019, an investment consortium consisting of Norwegian property tycoon Petter Stordalen and private equity firms Altor and TDR Capital announced that they had acquired the assets of Thomas Cook Northern Europe (also known as the Ving Group) including the Ving, Spies and Tjäreborg travel agencies, Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia, and the Sunwing and Sunprime hotel brands, with Stordalen and Altor owning 40% each and TDR Capital owning the remaining 20%.