AmEx GBT Agrees to $5.3 Billion SPAC Deal With Apollo Global
(Bloomberg) -- American Express Global Business Travel agreed to go public through a merger with a blank-check company backed by Apollo Global Management Inc.
The transaction values the corporate travel agency's pro forma market capitalization at about $5.3 billion, AmEx GBT said in a statement Friday.
The agreement includes commitments from new investors, “a huge vote of confidence in our business and the future of business travel, and meetings and events,” Paul Abbott, AmEx GBT's chief executive officer, said in the statement.
Business travel has been among the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic as travel restrictions and lockdowns forced road warriors to stay at home.
Last month, consultancy AlixPartners said corporate trips are in a structural decline that could be as deep as 25% below 2019 levels in 2025. Businesses polled by Bloomberg earlier this year said they've permanently slashed budgets, especially for internal trips, due to tools such as Zoom.
The latest wave of restrictions tied to the omicron variant threatens a recovery in the profitable and highly traveled transatlantic market -- just as the U.S. started welcoming visitors from Europe and other parts of the world in November.
CEOs Doom Business-Travel Revival With Budgets Slashed Worldwide
“I don't believe there is a long-term structural decline in business travel,” Abbott said in an interview Friday. “Our data has shown that whenever restrictions are removed, there is huge pent-up demand.”
AmEx GBT plans to use the proceeds from the reverse merger to invest in products and technology, accelerate growth plans and consolidate the industry with mergers and acquisitions, Abbott said.
As part of the agreement, London-based American Express Global Business Travel would raise about $335 million in a private investment in public equity deal, according to the statement. Investors include Zoom Video Communications Inc., the travel-technology firm Sabre Corp. and Apollo.
Abbott said the investment by Zoom would help set the company up for a future in which meetings and events are held in a hybrid format, with some in-person attendees and many more joining remotely from around the world.
Amex GBT was spun out of American Express Co. in 2014, creating a joint venture with American Express holding 50% while an investor group led by Certares held the remaining stake. In 2019, the companies said they had agreed to an equity recapitalization.
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
-
Indians Are Travelling, But Not Every Journey Is A Holiday | The Week In Whys
Pilgrims, patients and working women are the real travellers, and the system hasn't quite caught up with them.
-
Getting To Work Costs Women More | The Reason Why
It is not just about women paying more than men. It is about women paying much more in cities than in villages.
-
AI Bias In Investing Cannot Be Eliminated, But It Can Be Governed
Framing is a particularly important example as identical financial information presented in terms of gains rather than losses can lead an LLM to reach a different assessment.
-
Joining The Dots | Dark Skies, Steady Diya: Why Hope Holds This Diwali
With war, a weak rupee and foreign outflows weighing on sentiment, policymakers at the NDTV World Summit and market veterans at NDTV Profit Ignite: Diwali Edition offered the same advice: stay invested and filter out the noise.
-
The Curious Case of Equitas Small Finance Bank And A CEO Who Quit For Stock
PN Vasudevan believes persistent investor concerns over a perceived conflict of interest had become a governance overhang on Equitas Small Finance Bank's stock, even as the lender improved profitability and asset quality.
-
Talking Points This Week: AI Cash Burn, A Tiger Comeback And An India That Still Finds Its Own Path
India is not immune to higher oil or tighter global liquidity, yet its earnings base is broader, its domestic policy levers are still available.
-
Foreign Investors Own Half Of HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. An LTCG Cut Could Matter Most Here
Foreign portfolio investors have US$115 billion parked in HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank. If the government cuts long-term capital gains tax, Jefferies says returning foreign money could land here first.
