adamdodd/iStock Editorial via Getty Images
- American Express Business Travel agreed to be taken public through SPAC Apollo Strategic Growth Capital (NYSE:APSG) in a deal that will value the combined entity at $5.3B. APSG rose 1.4% in premarket trading.
- The transaction will provide up to $1.2B of gross proceeds, including an upsized PIP of $335M with investors including Apollo, Ares, HG Vora, Sabre (NASDAQ:SABR) and Zoom Video (NASDAQ:ZM). American Express Business Travel also obtained commitments for an additional $1B term loan facility, according to a statement.
- The deal is expected to close in the first half of next year and the combined company will be renamed Global Business Travel Group. American Express (NYSE:AXP) reportedly owns 50% of GBT.
- The transaction comes after the WSJ reported in May 2020 that Carlyle (NASDAQ:CG) and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC backed away from a deal announced in December 2019 to take a 20% stake in American Express (AXP) Global Business Travel.
- The AmEx business deal was earlier reported by the WSJ.
- Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are acting as financial advisors to GBT, while Evercore is acting as financial and capital markets advisor to APSG. Houlihan Lokey also served as a financial advisor to APSG.
- Recall last October, Apollo Strategic Growth Capital prices $750M IPO.