AmEx Global Business Travel to go public via $5.3 bln Apollo SPAC deal

Dec 3 (Reuters) – American Specific World Enterprise Journey (GBT) stated on Friday it could merge with a blank-check agency backed by Apollo World Administration Inc (APO.N) to go public in a deal valued at round $5.3 billion.

The merger with Apollo Strategic Progress Capital (APSG.N) will ship gross proceeds of as much as $1.2 billion, together with a $335 million non-public funding in public fairness, or PIPE.

Traders within the PIPE included funding supervisor Ares Administration Corp, journey know-how firm Sabre Corp (SABR.O) and Zoom Video Communications Inc (ZM.O).

The deal comes at a time when enterprise journey is recovering from a pandemic-induced droop, in a lift for firms like AmEx GBT that assist plan company journeys.

AmEx GBT was a wholly-owned unit of American Specific Co (AXP.N) till 2014, when the funds processor offered half its stake to a consortium led by funding agency Certares LP.

Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and the Carlyle Group (CG.O) had been seeking to buy a 20% stake within the firm in late 2019 however pulled out of the funding in Might final 12 months because the COVID-19 disaster hammered the journey sector.

AmEx GBT has over the previous 12 months strengthened its enterprise by buying a number of firms, together with Ovation Journey Group, Expedia Group’s company journey arm Egencia and 30SecondsToFly, a journey tech startup that makes use of synthetic intelligence.

The mixed firm will likely be renamed World Enterprise Journey Group after the deal, however it should proceed to do enterprise below the AmEx GBT model title.

The merger is predicted to shut within the first half of 2022, after which the corporate will commerce on the New York Inventory Trade below the image “GBTG.”

Particular-purpose acquisition firms (SPACs), or blank-check corporations, are shell firms which can be raised with the intention of merging with a personal entity to take it public by sidestepping a conventional preliminary public providing.

Reporting by Sohini Podder in Bengaluru; Enhancing by Aditya Soni

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