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In another busy year for mergers and acquisitions within the corporate travel sector, there was one deal that stood head and shoulders above the others: American Express Global Business Travel’s planned $570 million takeover of rival travel management company CWT.
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The announcement of the deal to bring together two of the world’s largest TMCs in late March stunned the industry and was also BTN Europe’s most read story of 2024.
Amex GBT had initially hoped to complete the CWT acquisition by the end of the year but it had to be pushed back into early 2025 after the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an in-depth probe into the impact of the deal. The final outcome of this process will likely be one of the biggest stories in the early weeks of the new year.
There’s also been plenty of other M&A activity in the TMC sector, with Gray Dawes fuelling its international growth through deals to buy VCK Travel in the Netherlands and Australia’s Verve Travel. Other UK-based TMCs such as TAG and ISON Travel have also been busy acquiring other businesses in 2024.
Meanwhile, Barcelona-based TravelPerk took a big step forward in its US expansion ambitions after buying AmTrav while Concur co-founder and Spotnana CEO Steve Singh led an investment group which acquired US-based Direct Travel with plans for the TMC to expand into Europe.
There were fewer major new deals in the aviation sector during 2024 but we did see several previously announced transactions, including Lufthansa’s purchase of a stake in Italy’s ITA Airways, finally going through after gaining clearance from regulators.
The travel technology industry saw plenty of smaller deals, with Amadeus snapping up biometric specialist Vision-Box and Spanish payments firm Voxel. Meanwhile, longstanding corporate online booking tool GetThere also changed hands with Serko buying the platform from Sabre for just $12 million.
The following stories covering mergers, acquisitions and business launches were all published by Business Travel News and Business Travel News Europe in 2024:JanuaryGray Dawes closes deal that will see TMC ‘almost double' in sizeInteleTravel acquires meetings agency MGMECvent acquires two trade show tech companiesAmadeus acquires biometrics solutions specialist
FebruaryCMAC Group acquired by Singapore’s ComfortDelGro for £80.2mTAG buys US production travel expert Atlantis
MarchAmadeus acquires Spanish payments firm VoxelHilton to acquire Graduate Hotels for $210MTAG acquires US-based entertainment and luxury travel specialistAmex GBT buys rival CWT in $570m deal
AprilTAG sold to private equity firm ECI PartnersHilton acquires majority stake in NoMad London parentInvestor group led by Steve Singh acquires Direct TravelVINCI acquires majority stake in Edinburgh Airport
MayTokyo-based Adventure acquires Singapore TMC Silkway Travel AsiaParking platform Pango agrees to acquire Gett for $175M
JuneTravelPerk buys AmTrav to fuel US expansionDeutsche Bahn completes sale of Arriva to US-based investorReed & Mackay acquires Italian events and travel specialistUK's Village Hotels group acquired by Blackstone
JulyISON Travel purchases US-based Global ExcellenceHyatt acquires Germany’s Me and All HotelsGroupize acquires The VendryNUMA Group acquires UK-based Native Places
AugustHyatt hotels group to acquire Standard International
SeptemberIndia's Yatra agrees to acquire corporate agency Globe TravelsBizAway secures €35 million investmentCvent acquires ‘easy-to-use’ SplashOyo to acquire parent company of Motel 6
OctoberQatar Airways to acquire 25 per cent stake in Virgin AustraliaTalma expands UK presence with Blue Cube acquisitionSerko to buy GetThere from Sabre for $12 millionUK TMCs merge under ownership of John Good Group
NovemberGray Dawes expands Australia presence with Verve Travel acquisitionGreengage acquires Responsible Futures to boost consulting divisionAir India completes merger with fellow Indian carrier VistaraBeyond Business Travel acquired by The Human NetworkISON Travel acquires specialist TMC Screen & Music TravelCDS Groupe acquires Italian ERP providerStaycity Group to expand in the DACH region following acquisition
DecemberEU approves remedies from Lufthansa-ITA dealKorean Air completes Asiana Airlines acquisition
Related: Who bought whom in 2023