Simmons & Simmons and Allen & Overy (A&O) have taken lead roles on the rescue of stricken UK travel giant Thomas Cook.

Thomas Cook, which had looked close to the brink of bankruptcy last week, negotiated a £200m loan facility on Friday with a consortium of banks led by Barclays, HSBC, RBS and UniCredit.

The new bank loan replaces a £100m short-term facility agreed upon between the parties in October. In addition, the banks have agreed further relaxation of the financial covenants under the existing loan facilities, with the company stating that the agreement gives it "much increased headroom to deal with unexpected events and the effects of an uncertain economic environment."

Simmons acted for Thomas Cook with a City team led by finance partner Simon Middleton that also included City finance partner Adam Cooper and capital markets partner Charles Hawes.  Slaughter and May corporate and finance partners William Underhill and George Seligman also advised Thomas Cook alongside Simmons. Advising the banks, A&O floated a team led by City finance partner George Link.

Both firms also advised on the travel company's £2bn refinancing in 2010, with Simmons pitching against a number of magic circle firms, including longstanding adviser Slaughter and May for the mandate.

News of the rescue deal, which was announced at the same time as a review of the business, silenced growing questions about the future of Thomas Cook.

After issuing several profit warnings, the company's share price was falling sharply amid the uncertainty and Thomas Cook said it was delaying reporting its preliminary results for the 12 months ending 30 September until it had concluded the loan negotiations.

It has now said it will announce these results during the week commencing 12 December, with the company also launching a publicity campaign to reassure holidaymakers in a bid to get revenues back on track.