Navigant Acquisitions Give It A Broader Reach

<B> Navigant Acquisitions Give It A Broader Reach</B>

By Sarah Welt

<I>Englewood, Colo.</I> - Navigant International, the travel spinoff of U.S. Office Products, added two new agencies to its growing fold: Arrington Travel Center Inc. of Chicago and Houston-based Atlas Travel Services Ltd.

The acquisitions bring Navigant closer to completing its hub strategy and give it a first-time presence in the Chicago market. Navigant will merge Atlas with Supertravel Inc., also in Houston, which it acquired in 1997.

Michael Arrington said he decided to sell the $223 million agency he founded 29 years ago to gain "the billion-dollar-plus threshold, we needed to offer the depth and breadth of technological and financial services our customers demand on a nationwide basis. Navigant already has developed critical mass that would take us years to do on our own."

Being part of Navigant "will provide a global network for clients" and permit him "to work at a more sophisticated level," as he joins Navigant's executive team as president of the Central region.

Navigant plans "by April 1999 to be the third-largest travel management company in the U.S., passing both BTI and Rosenbluth," Arrington said. He also noted that Arrington Travel has a strategic partnership with the $100 million Hillgate Travel in England--which Navigant hopes to build upon in the global arena.

The Atlas-Supertravel merger, meanwhile, will dominate the Texas market with air sales of about $250 million a year. Atlas chief executive officer Ariel Leibovitz will be chief executive officer of the merged company, and Atlas president and COO Gary Pearce will become COO, while Supertravel chairman Stan St. Pierre will move to a long-term strategic planning role.

The Arrington acquistiion raises questions about Navigant's relationship with another Chicago-based agency, McCord Travel Management. McCord and Navigant are the U.S. representatives for the global networking organization Synergi.

Asked why Navigant chose to acquire Arrington instead of McCord, Navigant CFO Robert Griffith, said, "It wasn't possible to do that.