It was to be expected that the acquisition of CWT by its main competitor, American Express GBTIt's the first time in history that an agreement like this has made waves in the business travel ecosystem, and in turn with the competition authorities. From there, it could become the new series with twists and turns on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean...
After an initial "stop" temporarily imposed by the British authorities, the merger of the two TMCs suffered a similar setback in the United Kingdom. United States. All of which is enough to put a spanner in the works for the project. Yes, but... The United Kingdom is changing its tune on 18 Februaryby issuing a new interim report, this time in favour of the buyout.
What is being debated, among other political and economic considerations, is ultimately the supposed power of CWT. The latter will prove decisive in determining the butterfly effect to be expected from the merger. Just a month ago, the US authorities (the Department of Justice, DOJ) drew up a rather glowing report on CWT's situation and strategy. The report showed that there was persistent competition between the two business travel agencies, which the potential takeover would automatically wipe out. In mid-January, the DOJ estimated that " CWT has recently begun to implement new and innovative strategies to improve service and reduce prices in order to gain market share from Amex GBT. As a result, Amex GBT has recently lost several large corporate tenders to CWT. If Amex GBT is allowed to acquire CWT, this intense competition would be lost, potentially leading to higher prices, less innovation and less choice - costs that will be borne by the many businesses and employees for whom these services are essential to their productivity and operation. ".
An overly flattering picture, if a new opinion is to be believed, this time from the United Kingdom. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has reversed its previous conclusions: " In November, the CMA's interim report provisionally concluded that the proposed merger between GBT and CWT was likely to result in a substantial lessening of competition. Following the interim report, the CMA continued to gather evidence and carried out further analysis which suggests that CWT would not have performed as well in the absence of the merger, contrary to the group's initial view. As a result, and having considered all the evidence, the Group has provisionally concluded that CWT is a significantly weaker competitor than in the past and is likely to continue to weaken in the future. Other suppliers will offer customers an alternative to the merged company ".
After all these twists and turns, the final decision will be made by 9 March 2025For the UK market at least...
