In one other busy 12 months for mergers and acquisitions inside 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.
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 finish the CWT acquisition by the top of the 12 months however it needed 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 final result of this process will likely be considered one of the largest stories within the early weeks of the brand new 12 months.
There’s also been loads of other M&A activity within the TMC sector, with Gray Dawes fuelling its international growth through deals to purchase VCK Travel within the Netherlands and Australia’s Verve Travel. Other UK-based TMCs similar to TAG and ISON Travel have also been busy acquiring other businesses in 2024.
Meanwhile, Barcelona-based TravelPerk took an enormous 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 latest deals within 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 loads of smaller deals, with Amadeus snapping up biometric specialist Vision-Box and Spanish payments firm Voxel. Meanwhile, longstanding corporate online booking tool GetThere also modified 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:
January
Gray Dawes closes deal that may see TMC ‘almost double’ in size
InteleTravel acquires meetings agency MGME
Cvent acquires two trade show tech firms
Amadeus acquires biometrics solutions specialist
February
CMAC Group acquired by Singapore’s ComfortDelGro for £80.2m
TAG buys US production travel expert Atlantis
March
Amadeus acquires Spanish payments firm Voxel
Hilton to acquire Graduate Hotels for $210M
TAG acquires US-based entertainment and luxury travel specialist
Amex GBT buys rival CWT in $570m deal
April
TAG sold to non-public equity firm ECI Partners
Hilton acquires majority stake in NoMad London parent
Investor group led by Steve Singh acquires Direct Travel
VINCI acquires majority stake in Edinburgh Airport
May
Tokyo-based Adventure acquires Singapore TMC Silkway Travel Asia
Parking platform Pango agrees to acquire Gett for $175M
June
TravelPerk buys AmTrav to fuel US expansion
Deutsche Bahn completes sale of Arriva to US-based investor
Reed & Mackay acquires Italian events and travel specialist
UK’s Village Hotels group acquired by Blackstone
July
ISON Travel purchases US-based Global Excellence
Hyatt acquires Germany’s Me and All Hotels
Groupize acquires The Vendry
NUMA Group acquires UK-based Native Places
August
Hyatt hotels group to amass Standard International
September
India’s Yatra agrees to acquire corporate agency Globe Travels
BizAway secures €35 million investment
Cvent acquires ‘easy-to-use’ Splash
Oyo to acquire parent company of Motel 6
October
Qatar Airways to amass 25 per cent stake in Virgin Australia
Talma expands UK presence with Blue Cube acquisition
Serko to purchase GetThere from Sabre for $12 million
UK TMCs merge under ownership of John Good Group
November
Gray Dawes expands Australia presence with Verve Travel acquisition
Greengage acquires Responsible Futures to spice up consulting division
Air India completes merger with fellow Indian carrier Vistara
Beyond Business Travel acquired by The Human Network
ISON Travel acquires specialist TMC Screen & Music Travel
CDS Groupe acquires Italian ERP provider
Staycity Group to expand within the DACH region following acquisition
December
EU approves remedies from Lufthansa-ITA deal
Korean Air completes Asiana Airlines acquisition
Related: Who bought whom in 2023
