The US Justice Department (DOJ) has filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block American Express Global Business Travel from completing its proposed $570 million transaction to buy CWT.

The suit, which has been filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges that the transaction would harm competition for corporate travel management services for US global and multinational businesses.?Media reports in the US last week suggested that the DOJ was preparing to take action to stop the Amex GBT-CWT deal.

The move comes as the UK¡¯s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is due to make its own decision on whether to allow the acquisition by 26 January.

Doha Mekki, acting assistant attorney general at the DOJ¡¯s Antitrust Division, said: ¡°This acquisition is the latest in a series of acquisitions by Amex GBT that will further consolidate an already consolidated market with only a handful of competitive options capable of serving customers with the most need for travel management services.

¡°American businesses will face the consequences, seeing higher prices, less innovation and fewer choices.¡±

In a statement, Amex GBT said it was "evaluating our next steps" and was "disappointed" with the DOJ's action, which it argued was based on a "backward-looking view of the market¡±.

¡°We are disappointed by the DOJ¡¯s legal action aimed at blocking the proposed transaction between Amex GBT and CWT and refute DOJ¡¯s assertion that the proposed transaction would harm large customers,¡± said the TMC.

¡°We firmly believe that the proposed transaction would bring significant benefits to all business travel customers, suppliers and employees.??

¡°The complaint completely disregards the emergence of numerous significant competitors in the business travel management industry and takes an intensely narrow view of competition.?

¡°In addition, the DOJ¡¯s focus on only the largest and most powerful customers headquartered in the US that represent less than three per cent of the global business travel market is unwarranted and unsupported by legal precedent.¡±

Scrutiny of the Amex GBT-CWT deal has heightened in recent weeks, with a focus on the impact for global and multinational businesses that,?according to the UK¡¯s CMA and now the DOJ in the US, would have few legitimate options in the market for managing their travel programmes.

The DOJ complaint further alleges that Amex GBT was motivated to initiate the transaction to create "a respite from its recent customer losses to CWT", citing CEO communications that recognised that the valuation of the proposed deal should reflect the financial benefit of avoiding future client losses to CWT.

It also mentioned CWT communications that specified how Amex GBT would enjoy post-merger reduction in "price pressure" by removing "a big competitor¡±.

Amex GBT has already taken issue with the regulatory methodologies used by the UK¡¯s CMA as being out of touch with market realities and its criticism of the regulator¡¯s interim report was also published on Friday (10 January).

The DOJ's complaint comes in the final days of the Biden administration, and next week will be turned over to the incoming Trump administration,?which some believe will take a more hands-off approach to challenging mergers and acquisitions.