{"id":310042,"date":"2025-08-01T19:34:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T19:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/310042\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T19:34:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T19:34:11","slug":"atg-acquires-cwts-business-operations-in-germany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/310042\/","title":{"rendered":"ATG acquires CWT\u2019s business operations in Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Netherlands-based ATG Travel Worldwide is expanding its<br \/>\npresence in Germany with the acquisition of CWT\u2019s business operations in the<br \/>\ncountry.<\/p>\n<p>The TMC, which has a number of fully owned regional offices<br \/>\nand a comprehensive network of franchised businesses, said in a statement it<br \/>\nhas \u201clong held many ties to Germany and has a strong growth path and<br \/>\naspirations\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>ATG chief executive officer Tammy Krings told BTN Europe<br \/>\nthat the deal \u2013 the value of which was not disclosed \u2013 incorporates \u201clocal<br \/>\nGerman businesses who have a strong foundation here.\u201d Krings added: \u201cThere are some global accounts that we will<br \/>\nnot be acquiring that are serviced in Germany,\u201d she continued, but the acquisition will<br \/>\nnevertheless \u201ctriple\u201d ATG\u2019s presence in the country.<\/p>\n<p>The deal is expected to close on 1 September, when the<br \/>\ncompany will \u201cchange the CWT name to ATG Business Travel Management GMBH\u201d, said Krings. \u201cEveryone who\u2019s currently employed by CWT in Germany<br \/>\nwill have the opportunity to move over as an ATG associate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The announcement comes days after the US Department of<br \/>\nJustice\u2019s decision to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesstravelnewseurope.com\/Management\/Amex-GBTCWT-to-proceed-after-DOJ-drops-antitrust-suit\" ek-link=\"true\" title=\"drop its antitrust suit against American Express Global&#010;Business Travel\u2019s acquisition of CWT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">drop its antitrust suit against American Express Global<br \/>\nBusiness Travel\u2019s acquisition of CWT<\/a>, clearing the way for their merger.<br \/>\nHowever, Krings said ATG\u2019s acquisition of CWT\u2019s German operations was signed in the last week and is an unrelated transaction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s completely separate.<br \/>\nI\u2019ve had no conversations with GBT. They\u2019re not part of this transaction, it\u2019s<br \/>\njust between CWT and ATG,\u201d said Krings, who assumes Amex GBT was aware of the deal.<\/p>\n<p>ATG and CWT first began<br \/>\ntalking about a deal in April 2024, said Krings, shortly after Amex GBT\u2019s<br \/>\nplanned acquisition of CWT was announced.<\/p>\n<p>Asked whether ATG looked at<br \/>\nsimilar opportunities in other markets, Krings said: \u201cInitially we did, but<br \/>\nGermany is a target market for us and it has been for years. We wanted<br \/>\nto grow and scale this market so we abandoned any other ideas \u2013 it wasn\u2019t just<br \/>\nCWT, we were looking at other agencies in other markets \u2013 and we decided to<br \/>\nfocus on Germany.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Krings added: \u201cWe\u2019ve been in<br \/>\nthe German market for over 20 years but people still think of us as being new.<br \/>\nOur own office has been open for nine years. We\u2019re a safe choice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both Tammy and husband Torsten Krings, president of ATG,<br \/>\nworked for Wagonlit Travel and for CWT. \u201cWe<br \/>\nhave some history and this feels like a full circle moment. Our culture at ATG<br \/>\nis very familiar with the old Wagonlit culture \u2013 a people first culture; an empowerment culture. Our existing ATG office here [in Germany] is very excited<br \/>\nabout bringing many of their former colleagues into ATG.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Krings said CWT\u2019s employees in Germany will be brought onboard \u201cas quickly<br \/>\nas possible\u201d after 1 September, with the integration of the business expected<br \/>\nto take between 12 and 24 months. \u201cThe bulk of the transition will really occur<br \/>\nin a six-month period and the remainder will be more technical in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesstravelnewseurope.com\/Europes-leading-TMCs\/2025\/CWT\" ek-link=\"true\" title=\"Europe&#039;s Leading TMCs 2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Europe&#8217;s Leading TMCs 2025<\/a>, CWT achieved an estimated \u20ac369 million in sales in Germany last year and had around 140 full-time equivalent employees.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement provided by CWT, the TMC&#8217;s president and CEO Patrick Andersen said: \u201cWe are very pleased to have reached this agreement with ATG. CWT and ATG share a deep commitment to customer service and closely aligned operating cultures. I am confident that this will be a positive outcome for both our customers and our employees.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since this story was published, ATG and CWT have confirmed the acquisition is expected to close in Q3 but not necessarily on 1 September.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Amex GBT<br \/>\nhas been approached for further information but had not responded at the time<br \/>\nof publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Netherlands-based ATG Travel Worldwide is expanding its presence in Germany with the acquisition of CWT\u2019s business operations in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[2000,299,1824,5642,13135,30387],"class_list":{"0":"post-310042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-germany","11":"tag-management","12":"tag-rss2","13":"tag-travel-management"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114955187889328158","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}