American Express Global Business Travel’s (Amex GBT) acquisition of CWT will be able to proceed after a challenge from the Department of Justice (DOJ) was dismissed. Amex GBT announced that it intended to buy CWT in March 2024 for $570 million (later revised to $540 million), including 50 million shares valued at $7.50 a share, with the rest paid in cash. CWT shareholders will own 10% of the combined company.

The justice department filed an antitrust lawsuit to block the deal in January. It said the merger between Amex GBT, the largest business TMC in the world, and CWT, the third largest, would harm competition, leading to higher prices and fewer choices for US businesses.

At the time, the DOJ asserted that CWT had begun new strategies to improve service and reduce prices to win customers and that Amex GBT had recently lost several bids for large business customers to CWT.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.