Let’s hope they don’t lose the receipt. American Express has plunked down $251 million to buy a 13 percent share in automated T&E platform provider Concur Technologies, as both companies announced a marketing alliance that will have each firm exclusively co-promoting corporate card and expense management services to their respective client base.
By partnering up, Concur will “exclusively” promote AMEX corporate cards to its 7,000 clients, while AMEX’s corporate card unit will pitch the Web-based, on-demand Concur platform to its roster of members. AMEX’s investment in Concur was for 6.4 million shares of newly issued stock, along with an agreement allowing AMEX to purchase an additional 1.28 million shares (at $39.27 per share) over the next two years.
The deal does not effect the consumer-data sharing agreement with AMEX customers that use competing expense-reporting systems, not does it impact Concur users which opt for rival corporate card programs. About half of all current Concur clients use the American Express corporate card, according to a release.
“We’re seeing growing demand from corporations for solutions that offer additional savings and control by automating labor-intensive expense management processes,” said Anré Williams, President of American Express Global Commercial Card, in a statement.
