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Article Excerpt
The four mega travel management companies engaged in a flurry of acquisitions and internal reorganizations last year as they vied to maintain their dominant U.S. positions and expand their global footprints.
In the wake of American Express' 2003 acquisition of $3 billion corporate travel management firm Rosenbluth International, Carlson Wagonlit Travel shook up the industry last year through aggressive acquisitions that reverberated through the market and triggered an aftershock of merger and acquisition activity.
With its March 2004 purchase of Maritz Corporate Travel, formerly the U.S. partner of German-owned global travel firm TQ3, CWT increased its sales volume by MCT'S $945 million and added more than 1 million air transactions to its already-growing processing load. In a prelude to further restructuring, MCT president and CEO Jack O'Neill took the reins of the integration as executive vice president and COO of CWT North America.
"The integration of Maritz was successful," said CWT worldwide president and CEO Hubert Joly, who succeeded Herve Gourio in July and in whom control of the company was consolidated upon the departure of North America president Robin Schleien. "Still, it's never completely complete, we're never completely cross-sold, but virtually all of our customers stayed on board," he said, noting that CWT maintained roughly a 99 percent U.S. client retention rate in 2004, including accounts won through the Maritz acquisition.
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