The founders of Elegant Resorts, the Chester-based luxury travel company, have sold the business to Thomas Cook Group for an estimated sum of £25 million ahead of changes to capital gains tax changes (CGT).

Geoff Moss and Barbara Catchpole, who set the company up in 1988, will remain with the business. Thomas Cook has vowed to run it as a standalone operation under current management.

Elegant, which a year ago abandoned plans for an AIM listing, carries about 20,000 passengers a year and has an estimated turnover of more than £60 million.

It sells holidays to exotic locations such as the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Arabian Gulf and is advertising space flights in conjunction with Virgin Galactic. The average spend per booking is £10,000.

The company is understood to cater for several top footballers and is reputed to have organised the wedding and honeymoon of Stephen Gerard, the Liverpool and England midfielder.

Thomas Cook refused to reveal the purchase price, although it said that the total gross assets of Elegant were £22.3 million.

It is the third acquisition in two months for Thomas Cook, which is also known to be looking closely at opportunities in China and Russia.

In February it paid about £25 million for Hotels4U, the internet bed bank, then last month it bought back control of its businesses in India and Egypt as well as the licences for the Thomas Cook brand in 15 Middle Eastern countries from Dubai Financial Group for up to about £190 million.

The Elegant acquisition is part of Thomas Cook's push into the independent travel sector as it seeks to reduce its reliance on the flat package market.

It said the deal would build on its existing presence in the high-value luxury holiday market through its Latitude and Thomas Cook Signature brands.

Thomas Cook is understood to have faced competition for Elegant from rivals including Kuoni and an unnamed private equity firm.

Manny Fontenla-Novoa, chief executive of Thomas Cook, said: "Elegant Resorts has a very strong brand name, associated with luxury, style and bespoke holidays and fully supports our strategic aim to become a leading independent travel provider."

Ms Catchpole and Mr Moss, who is the co-owner of Wrexham Football Club, are among numerous entrepreneurs to have cashed in their chips ahead of the Government's controversial CGT changes, which came into force over the weekend.

Others to sell up have included the founder and management of YO! Sushi, which was snapped up by Quilvest Private Equity for an estimated £51 million.

The list also includes the Arnett family, based in Yorkshire, who today announced the sale of their bakery and ingredients business to Finsbury Food Group for up to £8.9 million.

Steve Thompson and Bernie Gackowski sold their electrical business Melton Power Supplies to Sprice for £4.5 million while Charles Godfrey and Nigel Vaughan disposed of their commercial property business, Godfrey Vaughan, to Colliers CRE for 7 million.

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