NEW YORK – American Express Global Business Travel (“GBT”), the world’s leading Business-to-Business travel platform, plans to go public in 2022 with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Apollo Strategic Growth Capital (NYSE: APSG) .
The combination is expected to create the world’s largest publicly traded B2B travel platform, which plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the new ticker symbol “GBTG”. Becoming a public company allows GBT to accelerate its existing growth strategy, while providing additional investment capacity and flexibility to create more value and choice for customers.
Video communications platform Zoom Video Communications; global travel technology company Sabre; APSG’s sponsor, an affiliate of alternative asset manager Apollo; funds managed by the private equity group of Ares Management Corporation (“Ares”); and investment adviser HG Vora, are among a new group of strategic and institutional investors. Upon the closing of the transaction, these companies will join American Express, one of the world’s largest payment and card services providers, Expedia Group, one of the world’s largest online travel businesses, and Certares, a travel investment specialist, as shareholders.
Paul Abbott, GBT’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “Becoming a public company will be a historic milestone on GBT’s growth journey. Commitments from new investors like Zoom, Sabre, Apollo, Ares and HG Vora are a huge vote of confidence in our business and the future of business travel, and meetings and events. We expect that becoming a listed company will give us the additional investment capacity to strengthen our commitment to providing unrivaled value, choice and experiences to our customers and partners.”
Sanjay Patel, CEO of APSG and Partner at Apollo, said: “We are delighted to support Paul and the GBT team alongside American Express Company, Expedia Group, Certares and the PIPE investors. We look forward to executing this combination and to supporting GBT’s future growth as a public company.”
Itai Wallach, Partner at Apollo, said: “American Express Global Business Travel is an industry leader with an incredible brand, strong management team and highly strategic shareholder base. This combination is an exciting and unique opportunity to support a leading company with strong staying power and the opportunity to accelerate its growth as a public company.”
Kelly Steckelberg, Chief Financial Officer at Zoom, said: “We are thrilled to invest in GBT and look forward to working with their talented team as they strive to deliver innovative and engaging virtual, face-to-face, and hybrid meeting and event experiences. Companies are increasingly looking for experts and best-in-class technology solutions for meetings and events in the new hybrid world, as evidenced by the demand for Zoom Events.
“Our companies share a relentless focus on the customer experience, and we are excited to leverage our Zoom Events solution to collaborate with GBT to bring unmatched meeting services to businesses of all sizes around the world,” added Steckelberg.
Under an 11-year agreement to take effect upon closure of the transaction, GBT will continue to have the right to use the American Express trademark in connection with the American Express Global Business Travel and American Express GBT Meetings & Events brands.
GBT Investment Highlights
- Global leader in a $1.4 trillion industry with significant runway for growth
- Leading B2B travel platform, with strong brand and strategic shareholders
- Unique model with strong value proposition to customers and suppliers enabled by cutting-edge technology
- Multiple avenues to accelerate growth and create value
- Well-positioned for recovery in the large and resilient travel sector
- Proven value creation through M&A and operational expertise
- Strong financial performance, with proven track record of growth and profitability
Transaction Overview
The transaction implies a pro forma market capitalization of approximately $5.3 billion and a pro forma enterprise valuation of approximately $5 billion for GBT (assuming no redemptions by APSG’s shareholders).
Current GBT common equity holders are expected to roll their existing equity holdings into the combined company. The transaction is expected to provide up to approximately $1.2 billion in gross proceeds, comprised of APSG’s approximately $817 million of cash held in trust and the upsized $335 million fully committed common stock PIPE financing (the “PIPE Investment”). All references to transaction proceeds are subject to any redemptions by the public shareholders of APSG and payment of transaction expenses.
In addition, GBT has obtained commitments for an additional $1 billion term loan facility to be established under its existing credit agreement to repay approximately $600 million of certain existing term loan facilities and to provide an incremental $400 million of financing for general corporate purposes, including to backstop potential redemptions.
