After a tortuous two years, Britain's largest travel company is close to being bought.

On Friday Thomson issued a statement saying it was 'in discussions' with C&N Touristic, one of Germany's largest travel operators, but also reported 'another party' was interested.

The offer is understood to be 160p per share. Although this is an increase on the offer reported on Natives in April, it is still below the price paid at floatation two years ago.

Institutional investors are keen on an exit route for the troubled group, having seen its shares slump to below 70p last year after a poor trading performance.

Thomson Travel Group includes Thomson Holidays, Lunn Poly, Britannia Airways, Crystal Holidays, Magic Travel Group and Simply Travel within its portfolio.