Navigant Nets World

<B> Navigant Nets World</B>

By Sarah Welt

<I>Denver, Colo.</I> - Expanding its position in the Northwest, Navigant International last month announced the acquisition of Anchorage, Alaska-based World Express Travel Inc.

With $57 million in U.S. booked air volume, World Express Travel is the fourth agency to join the Navigant family in fiscal year 1999. The U.S. Office Products spinoff acquired TravelCorp of Minneapolis in May (<I>BTN,</I> July 20), then added Chicago-based Arrington Travel and Houston-based Atlas Travel in July (<I>BTN,</I> Aug. 3). The acquisitions are part of Navigant's plan to acquire $100 million in revenue by the end of its fiscal year.

"By adding World Express to our existing operations in the region--Mutual Travel in Seattle and Atlas Travel Services in Vancouver, B.C.--we have strengthened our position in an area with a very large and growing economy," said Navigant chairman and CEO Edward Adams.

Differing from its strategy in the past, Navigant purchased World Express for an undisclosed amount of cash rather than stock, financing the deal with a loan from NationsBank. Because of the market upheaval, "it's not advantageous to the shareholders from an earnings-per-share basis to issue stock at this time. If you issue stock, it dilutes their ownership percentage," said Navigant CFO Robert Griffith.

For World Express, "Navigant's size creates product and technology offerings for our customers that are only available at a national level," said president Bob Acree.