American Express Global Business Travel has begun trading as a public company on the New York Stock Exchange from today (May 31).

Its CEO Paul Abbott said: “Today marks a significant milestone in the business travel industry recovery and for Amex GBT.

“With strategic initiatives over the last few years, including complementary accretive acquisitions, product and technology enhancements and lasting cost reductions, we have confidence that we are very well positioned to win a larger portion of the $1.4 trillion business travel market.

“As a publicly traded company, we will have the flexibility to further accelerate our growth strategy.

He said trading as a public company marks the beginning of a “new phase of growth” paired with a focus on delivering long-term shareholder value as the “world’s largest publicly traded B2B travel platform”.

The move follows the completion of a previously-announced “business combination” with Apollo Strategic Growth Capital.

The deal also included “sizeable investments” by strategic investors Zoom and Sabre, and new investors Apollo, Ares and HG Vora.

These investors join American Express Company, Certares and Expedia Group.