American Express recently announced its plans to sell 50% of its Global Business Travel division for $900 million. Though American Express will hold on to a 50% stake, the venture will split from the rest of the company and be managed by an investor group led by Certares LP. Other group members include Qatar Holdings, Macquarie Capital and a number of funds managed by BlackRock. According to the company, the new venture will establish agreements in an effort to prevent service disruptions.
Bill Glenn, CEO of the joint venture, said:
“To our knowledge, this would be the largest single investment made in a travel management company. We believe it will accelerate our growth by funding meaningful advances in technology, analytics and service excellence that will benefit suppliers, partners and our global customer base. We account for more corporate travel sales than any other TMC, and these initiatives will put us in a better position to help travel buyers manage travel spend and support their travelers.”
The division plans were initially announced last September, and are expected to close by the second quarter of 2014. The venture is managed by Glenn, former President of Global Commercial Services at American Express. Greg O’Hara, founder of Certares, will serve as chairman.
The American Express travel group works with corporate customers with travel consulting, services and research. It employs 14,000 people and has partners in over 130 countries.
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