BTI says Kuoni deal will silence critics
Kuoni has sold its business travel interests to Hogg Robinson plc, a move that Business Travel International (BTI) chief executive, David Radcliffe, says will ‘cement’ the firm. David Radcliffe, global chief executive of BTI, which is part-owned by Hogg Robinson, told TravelMole: “BTI in its own entity is probably the largest business travel company in Europe now.” Kuoni says it decided to sell because it wants to focus on leisure travel. The announcement comes just days after TravelMole predicted that more business travel mergers would follow the takeover of French agency Protravel by Carlson Wagonit. Commenting on the deal Mr Radcliffe told TravelMole: “It brings clout which is good for clients and it will mean we have a common back office system. We already have the same front office because of the way we work.” Hogg Robinson will take over Kuoni’s business travel operations in Austria, Germany, Hungary, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Most of the companies traded under the BTI name anyway, so Mr Radcliffe says BTI will look to strengthen the name following the deal. He said he didn’t anticipate any redundancies, just “improved efficiencies”. The two companies have worked together closely since 1992, when Kuoni became a shareholder in BTI with an 8% ownership share. The company now has two equal shareholders – Hogg Robinson and BCD, which owns the US arm of BTI. “We have silenced our critics who often said that we were a loose affiliation or a joint venture. This deal really cements BTI and puts that to bed” said Mr Radcliffe. Mr Radcliffe said he expected the deal to complete at the end of January. The deal is subject to normal statutory legal and financial requirements, but Mr Radcliffe says he wasn’t anticipating any problems.
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