Corporate Travel Management's $200 million acquisition of Travel and Transport was a major deal in its own right, but the purchase could serve as a harbinger of the next wave of industry consolidation, as travel management companies continue dealing with the financial fallout from the Covid-19-induced freeze on corporate travel activity.
For Australia's CTM and its managing director, Jamie Pherous, the acquisition was the culmination of several years of courting Omaha-based T&T, which operates the 100-plus agency-strong Radius global travel management network. T&T acknowledged that the decision to sell was driven primarily by the economic pressures from the Covid-19 pandemic, which has choked off revenue streams for TMCs.
With little clear indication of when corporate travel might return to anything approaching normal levels, providers are scrambling to figure out how to stay afloat amid the unprecedented challenge. For the biggest and deepest-pocketed TMCs, a mix of belt-tightening and re-evaluating pricing models might be sufficient to stay afloat for the time being.
But among midsize and small TMCs, it's a safe bet that potential sales have been at least imagined during the past several months. For such sellers, prominent on the list of potential suitors are TMCs whose business remains relatively healthy, such as CTM, whose recovery was touted by Pherous as early as mid-August.
Pherous attributed the company's comparative health to its significant presence in New Zealand, one of the first countries in the world to begin easing lockdown measures, as well as its high percentage of corporate clients working in sectors deemed essential and its emphasis on domestic travel, which accounted for 60 percent of its pre-Covid revenue.
Given his company's relatively strong position, Pherous made no secret of CTM's plans to leverage that advantage to acquire competitors, calling the current moment "a unique generational opportunity for consolidation."
As other players in the TMC space continue facing existential threats to their business and many begin seeking an escape hatch, CTM's planned shopping spree likely will take place in a buyers' market.