Amex Enters Belgian Venture

<B> Amex Enters Belgian Venture</B>

By Cheryl Rosen

<I>London</I> - American Express and Bank Brussels Lambert of Belgium on April 2 announced they will be combining their corporate travel operations in a joint venture that will command 20 percent of the $330 million Belgian market.

The bank's BBL Travel subsidiary and American Express each will own 50 percent of BBL Travel American Express, which will open on Jan. 1, 1999, as Belgium's largest travel agency.

Amex International Travel Services Group president Charles Petruccelli said the combination of the two travel management firms will bring together Amex's multinational customer base and BBL's "substantial share of the middle market."

Noting pointedly that his group is responsible for corporate and purchasing cards as well corporate travel, Petruccelli said the joint venture is in keeping with Amex's global strategy of growing through acquisitions and joint ventures. This is its "fifth strategic move in Europe" in the past five years, following three acquisitions--Schenker-Rhenus Reisen in Germany and the Thomas Cook Group Ltd. in the U.K. in 1994, and Nyman & Schultz in Sweden in 1993--and a joint venture with Havas Voyages in France in 1996. Elsewhere in the world, Amex acquired Bel Air Viagens and Kontik-Franstur of Brazil, and National Australia Travel and Westpac Travel down under. Its travel sales worldwide totaled $17 billion in 1997, Petruccelli said, and sales by Havas and BBL totaled $2 billion.

In Belgium, both Amex and BBL Travel will move from their present headquarters to a neutral location, and commit to the same primary CRS before beginning operations on Jan. 1, Petruccelli said. While a number of redundant business travel centers will be closed, Petruccelli said he does not foresee layoffs of travel counselors, given the ongoing difficulty the industry faces in finding talented people in the first place.

Amex continues to "definitely work on options of acquisitions and joint ventures in key markets across Europe and in Latin America, Asia and Canada, heavily investing in technology and going after the successful launch" of its AXI automated booking system, Petruccelli said. AXI will roll out in Sweden, Germany, the U.K., Canada and Australia in 1998, and in Belgium--which will be too busy melding its operations with BBL this year--in 1999.