What future for BCD Travel after the sale of HRG to Amex?

After acquiring KDS, American Express GBT buys Hogg Robinson Group. But who are the shareholders of the HRG group, whose most important shareholder is also the owner of the other corporate travel giant: BCD Travel. We can say that there will be more mergers to come in a sector that is very competitive and not very profitable today. .

A multi-million euro investment

American Express Global Business Travel would have offered up to €462 million to acquire Hogg Robinson Group. It will be necessary to have official approvals (Europe and USA) and shareholder agreements. It will also be necessary to collect 75% of the shares in order to take over the company. This should not be a problem as HRG has no very favourable financial results.

At the center of the sale there is a billionaire

John Fentener van Vlissingen (photo), who is surely the richest man in the Netherlands, is one of HRG’s shareholders and holds 23.9% of HRG.
of capital.

There is also Dnata, a huge catering company owned by the Emirate of Dubai and headquartered at Emirates headquarters.

Billionaire John Fentener van Vlissingen also happens to be the owner of BCD Travel, a competitor for the new Amex GBT and HRG.

BCD Travel was created by John Fentener van Vlissingen
The company was founded in 1975 by John Fentener van Vlissingen and consists of BCD Travel, Travix, CheapTickets, Vliegwinkel, BudgetAir, Flugladen and Vayama.

The company also owns Park & N Fly (outside airport parking) and joint ventures Parkmobile International (mobile parking applications).

BCD Group employs more than 15,000 people and operates in 108 countries with total sales of over €21 billion, less than half of which come from partner sales.

It should be noted that BCD Holding is based in Curaçao… We can now ask ourselves the question about the future of this world leader in business travel.

His creator is 78 years old and for some time has been more interested in the hotel business than in  »  Travel Management Compagny…  « .

Staff reduction after mergerStaff reduction after merger

As indicated in the buyback offer, there will be an « overall reduction in employment between approximately 6% and 8% of both groups. There will be objectively duplicates.

Currently, about 12,000 people work for HRG, of which 5,000 are directly employed in 25 countries, and 7,000 for partners in 100 other countries. Amex GBT employs 12,000 people in nearly 140 countries.

So we are waiting to see how BCD Travel will evolve but also companies like Carlson Wagonlit or Egencia-Expedia.
There will still be movement in the TMC!

Serge Fabre