The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of joint control of Carlson Wagonlit, by the US companies Carlson and One Equity Partners, a subsidiary of JP Morgan Company. The…
The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of joint control of Carlson Wagonlit, by the US companies Carlson and One Equity Partners, a subsidiary of JP Morgan Company. The Commission concluded that the proposed transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.
Carlson Companies Inc (CCI) is a privately owned corporation which provides services in the marketing, travel and hospitality industries. CCI operates and/or is a franchisor of hotels, cruise ships, travel agencies and restaurants around the world.
One Equity Partners II, L.P (OEP) is a private equity company that is ultimately controlled by JP Morgan Company, which is a leading global financial services firm, active in several business segments, including investment banking, treasury and security services, asset and wealth management, retail financial services, card services and commercial banking.
Carlson Wagonlit B.V. (CWT) is active in travel management and travel consulting services worldwide, serving corporate, leisure and government clients. CWT was previously jointly controlled by CCI and Accor. The proposed transaction would ultimately lead to a change of the shareholders of CWT, Accor being replaced by OEP.
The proposed operation does not give rise to any horizontal market overlaps. CWT is active in the provision of business travel agency services within the EEA and, to a lesser degree, leisure travel agency services in Belgium and France. CCI and OEP are not active in these sectors within the EEA. On the other hand, CCI is active in several markets upstream of CWT’s travel agency activities (hotels, cruise lines, and marketing/consultancy services for travel businesses). The Commission has however concluded that the proposed acquisition would not give rise to any risk of reduced competition as the CCI-CWT vertical relationship already existed prior to the transaction.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
