etc.venues County Hall, London, 20 February, 2024
Date and Venue TBC
19 - 20 June, ExCeL London
Mergers and acquisitions within the business travel industry continued in 2020 despite the economic uncertainty inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic – uncertainty which also sealed the fate of several airlines and TMCs.
Companies were nevertheless prepared to invest even when value became harder to identify in a market that was largely brought to a halt. While many buying companies took the opportunity to acquire technology to enhance their service offering in a Covid environment, some sellers simply sought a way out amid increasingly challenging circumstances.
The stories selected below were published across several BTN Group websites in 2020 including BTN Europe, Business Travel News, Travel Procurement and The Beat. Stories published on The Beat require a subscription to read in full.
January 2020Yapta acquired by Coupa SoftwareCorporate Travel Management buys CTPDirect Travel lands Professional TravelFrosch acquires Luxe Travel
February 2020TAG acquires LA touring specialistBCD Travel acquires Italian partnerHamilton Hotel Partners and Pyramid Hotel agree mergerAir Italy to cease operationsMarch 2020Flybe goes into administration overnight
April 2020Anvil Group acquires FlightSafe
June 2020Sterling Travel Management to merge with TraveleadsLevel Europe ceases tradingVirgin Australia to be acquired by US private equity group
July 2020Jet Linx expands through acquisitionTravelPerk buys covid data startupCanada's GardaWorld acquires World AwareFrosch confirms CorpTrav acquisitionAccelya completes Farelogix acquisition
August 2020Booking startup WhereTo bought by Flight CentreBusiness Travel by STA ceases tradingFreebird flies into sunset with Capital One
September 2020Rocketrip acquired by MondeeCTM to buy Travel and Transport creating $7.6bn TMC
October 2020Thornton's Travel becomes latest victim of the pandemicAmerican Express GBT acquires AI firmArrangeMY picks up Gloucester Express clientsGBTA agrees to purchase ACTE assetsCTM acquires agency automation provider TramadaNovember 2020Horncastle Executive Travel ceases tradingKorean Air parent acquires Asiana AirlinesAccor and Hoxton owner to form €1bn lifestyle group
December 2020BridgeStreet's EMEA and APAC agency business soldWex to buy eNett at lower price - lawsuit settled