American Express Global Business Travel, a subsidiary of American Express Company (AXP) and also known as AmEx GBT, announced last Friday its plan to go public via a SPAC merger with one of Apollo Global Management’s (APO) blank-check firms in a deal worth $5.3b.
The SPAC merger will generate proceeds of up to $1.2b, which includes a $335 million private investment in public equity from Ares Management Corporation (ARES), Sabre Corporation (SABR), and Zoom (ZM). The deal is expected to close sometime in the first half of 2022.
Only half of AmEx GBT is currently owned by American Express, with the other half having been sold to a consortium of investors back in 2014. After it goes public, the company will be renamed as Global Business Travel Group and will trade under the ticker symbol “GBTG” but will continue to do business under the AmEx GBT brand name.
Why it matters
The announcement of AmEx GBT's SPAC deal comes more than a year after Singapore's sovereign wealth fund pulled out of a deal to purchase 20% of the company after the pandemic hammered the travel industry. With the date set for sometime next year, hopefully fears and concerns over the Omicron variant will have blown over.
