BTI Americas Owners Entertain Bids

<B> BTI Americas Owners Entertain Bids</B>

By Sarah Welt

<I>Northbrook, Ill.</I> - Responding to industry rumors that BTI Americas soon will be acquired by American Express, the privately held mega agency has acknowledged that it indeed is in play--and said that its existing management team may actually be the one to end up owning it.

"There are no discussions between the management of BTI Americas and American Express," said BTI Americas spokesperson Robert Dirkes, though he added, "I don't know if there is any conversation between ownership (of the two agencies). Holland or EDS could be talking to Amex."

BTI Americas currently is owned in part by Texas financier Murray Holland, who serves as the agency's chairman of the board and CEO. Its longtime technology partner, Electronic Data Systems of Plano, Texas, also holds an undisclosed share of the travel management company.

But the agency's day-to-day operations are managed by president Ralph Manaker and an executive committee. With the financial support of its global joint venture Business Travel International, represented by managing partner Hogg Robinson of London, the team also is bidding to buy the American travel management company.

BTI Americas' management team "strongly believes in the strength of the company" and has made an offer to the company's owners, Dirkes acknowledged. But to the best of his knowledge, he said, no deal has yet been signed.

A spokesperson for American Express denied that the nation's largest corporate agency is bidding on BTI Americas. However, Amex is not ruling out acquisitions. Said Ed Gilligan, president of corporate services for Amex Travel Related Services, "I wouldn't say it's something I lay awake at night plotting, but I would say there are a lot of opportunities these days."

Gilligan said Amex hopes to grow its overall business by 20 percent a year, and "would like to be bigger in certain key markets in the world--not just the U.S." Acquisitions "might" be one way to accomplish that, "depending on the price."

At BTI Americas, meanwhile, the management team's bid is part of an ongoing global consolidation strategy. The Business Travel International joint venture was created in 1990 to allow its travel agency partners to compete globally without having to start from the ground up. "We were able to act like a company before we actually were one financially," Dirkes said. But as time went on, "we wanted to build a foundation like a true global company."

To that end, the joint venture partners want to simplify the management structure. "BTI Americas and Hogg Robinson have been having discussions for over a year to have Hogg Robinson, as the managing partner of Business Travel International, purchase a stake in BTI Americas," Dirkes said.