Carlson Wagonlit Travel

Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) is a large corporate travel management company.

It operates in 157 countries and territories, with 22,000 employees. According to Business Travel News Online.com, in 2007, CWT surpassed American Express Business Travel and became the world's largest business travel management company. The company has $27.8 billion in annual sales (including joint ventures) in 2008, from 55 million transactions.

History

The group has existed in its present form since 1994, the result of a 50%/50% merger from two large travel agency ventures. The Carlson side was originally from the Ask Mr. Foster Travel Agency chain, which had been rebranded to Carlson Travel Network a decade earlier. The Wagonlit part came from the travel shop business of Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. After the merger, Accor maintained its 50% interest up until 2006. Accor sold its shares for in a transaction worth €500m, thereby placing a value of €1bn on CWT at the time)

The company is jointly owned by Carlson, a privately held corporation in the hotel, marketing, restaurant, and travel industries; and by One Equity Partners, a private equity affiliate of JPMorgan Chase.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/