Amex GBT has completed its $540 million acquisition of CWT in a deal expected to generate around $155 million in annual run-rate synergies within three years.
CWT customers will now have access to Amex GBT’s suite of proprietary travel and expense software solutions, including Neo, Egencia and Select.
They also benefit from Amex GBT’s portfolio of professional services, spanning meeting and events, consulting and sustainability solutions.
Paul Abbott, CEO of Amex GBT, said: “Today marks the start of an exciting relationship with CWT customers. We will listen, build trust and deliver the choice, value and service they expect. This acquisition will generate greater investment capacity for our software and services and is expected to create significant shareholder value through efficiency gains.”
The controversial deal has had to overcome several hurdles, including initial opposition from competition authorities in the UK and the US.
Earlier this year the US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit arguing that the proposed deal – the fifth acquisition by Amex GBT since 2018 – would harm competition for business travel management services to US global and multinational businesses.
It warned that American businesses will face the consequences “seeing higher prices, less innovation and fewer choices”. But its lawsuit was dropped in July.
In the UK the UK Competition and Markets Authority also did a U-turn on the deal, which it initially warned would lead to less choice and higher prices among large customers.
But it later concluded that this would not happen because “CWT is a significantly weaker competitor than in the past and is likely to continue to weaken in the future and that there are other suppliers who will offer customers an alternative to the merged business”.
