Two of the biggest companies in the incentive industry announced major deals in late April that point to fundamentally different strategies for dealing with an increasingly global marketplace.

First, St. Louis–based Maritz Inc. announced it would sell a majority share in Maritz Europa, its European events, meetings and incentives arm, to Grass Roots Group (GRG)—the Tring, England–based performance improvement company that bought Miami–based, Latin America–focused incentive house BitTime in January.

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"This transaction enables us to provide the global offering that our clients are demanding, while concentrating our [meetings, events and incentives] management resources on growth in our core North American market," says Steve Maritz, chairman and CEO of Maritz.

Maritz will take a minority stake in GRG, and views the deal "as an alliance," says Mark Peterman, Maritz's vice president of client solutions. "We will work closely and collaboratively on international programs. We view [GRG] as an extension of Maritz's ability to operate internationally."

While Peterman stresses that Maritz's international business is growing, and the firm intends to pursue it vigorously, the sale of Maritz Europa—the British and German offices will retain that name but be controlled by GRG—indicates that the firm intends to pursue it by continuing to build what Peterson calls a "network of best-in-class partners."

Carlson Companies, the parent of Carlson Marketing, is taking a different tack, expanding instead of divesting. On April 27, Carlson announced a two-part deal in which Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT), its business travel management division, will buy TQ3Navigant, creating a company that is a closer No. 2 to sector leader American Express in terms of market share. At the same time, Carlson will partner with a private equity firm to buy out Accor's 50 percent share in CWT. This deal allows Carlson to obtain a 55 percent share of CWT.

When the deal is completed in the second half of 2006, the "Navigant name will go away," says Keith Taylor, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Englewood, Colo.–based Navigant. The firm's meeting, special event and incentive division will be folded into Carlson Marketing, he adds.



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