American Express GBT to go public via merger with Apollo SPAC, eyes $1B loan

GBT US III LLC, which this morning announced that it plans to go public via a combination with special purposes acquisition company Apollo Strategic Growth Capital, said it has also obtained commitments for an additional $1 billion term loan facility to be established under its existing credit agreement to repay $600 million of existing term loan facilities and to provide an incremental $400 million of financing for general corporate purposes, including to backstop potential redemptions.

In February 2020, American Express Global Business Travel completed a $615 million term loan B and $515 million delayed-draw term loan to refinance debt, fund a shareholder distribution and provide acquisition financing. Both of those loans remained flat in the secondary, trading at about an 88.5 bid.

The transaction, which is expected to close in the first half of 2022, implies a pro forma market capitalization of roughly $5.3 billion and a pro forma enterprise valuation of roughly $5 billion, according to a statement that described that the combination would create the world's largest publicly traded business-to-business travel platform, which plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the new ticker symbol GBTG.

American Express Global Business Travel is a travel management company jointly owned by American Express and a Certares-led investor group.