Several industry sources said that Carlson Cos. would take a controlling stake in Carlson Wagonlit Travel later this month by buying part of the 50 percent holding owned by French hotel and services group Accor. The balance of Accor's stake will be acquired by an unidentified private equity company. Sources also said Carlson Cos. is negotiating to acquire Navigant International, which owns TQ3Navigant in the United States and a small number of offices trading in other countries as TQ3 Travel Solutions. Navigant would be merged with Carlson Wagonlit to cement Carlson Wagonlit's position as the world's second-largest TMC and make it a close contender to global market leader American Express.
A spokesperson for Carlson Wagonlit in North America declined to comment on the matter, and Ed Adams, CEO of TQ3, said he had no official comment, but added, "From the standpoint in what we saw with BCD turning to a common ownership, it makes perfect sense for Carlson to pick up that other part of the network that they don't own."
Adams speculated that if Carlson buys the additional CWT stake, the industry likely would hear the news first from Accor. "With Accor being a public company in France, they probably have a bit more stringent reporting requirement then Carlson, a private company here in the U.S., would have," he said. "I suspect Accor would have to put out an announcement as soon as something definitive was signed."
Carlson Cos. currently owns the 50 percent of Carlson Wagonlit not owned by Accor. Last month, new Accor president Gilles Péllisson announced last month he was considering selling his group's stake in Carlson Wagonlit
(BTNonline, March 3). The deal would give Carlson Cos. majority ownership of Carlson Wagonlit for the first time since it was formed through the merger of Carlson Travel Network and Wagons-Lits Travel in 1994.
Carlson Wagonlit is the third-largest travel management company, based on U.S. air volume. Navigant claims to be the second-largest. Combined, the two would not be far short of market leader American Express.
In Europe, Carlson Wagonlit is number one. Navigant, on the other hand, saw its international strategy severely damaged recently when BCD Holdings bought the interests in TQ3 that were owned by the German travel giant TUI. BCD merged those interests with WorldTravel BTI in the United States to form BCD Travel. Losing the TUI-owned part of TQ3 interests left Navigant with small wholly owned offices in seven countries outside the United States and a claimed network of licensees in 52 countries.