Software company WiseTech acquires US logistics firm Blume Global for $414m

Australian Software company WiseTech Global has acquired Blume Global, a North American intermodal rail solutions provider, for $414 million.

The transaction comes close on the heels of the acquisition of Envase Technologies by WiseTech.

Blume Global manages intermodal containers and chassis on behalf of six of the 7 Class 1 US railroads, ocean carriers, and other intermodal equipment providers.

Richard White — WiseTech Global Founder and CEO said: “It [Acquisition] further extends our capability in one of our six key CargoWise development priority areas, integrating rail into our landside logistics offering in North America, the most complex and largest logistics region in the world.

“Blume also brings significant new talent, a portfolio of other valuable product capabilities, and further enhances our product development skill set.

“This transaction demonstrates WiseTech’s continued investment in its CargoWise ecosystem, improving visibility and process efficiencies end-to-end across the supply chain for our customers.”

WiseTech Global anticipates to finance the acquisition of the US-headquartered Blume Global from funds managed by Apollo, EQT, and other minority shareholders.

Pervinder Johar — Blume Global CEO said: “Joining the WiseTech Global group means greater scale and resources to make logistics processes more productive, agile, dependable, and sustainable with innovative execution and visibility solutions.

“We want to thank the team at Apollo for helping to stand up and grow Blume as a standalone company and are thrilled to embark on this next chapter to drive even greater digital innovation in this sector.”

WiseTech Global’s logistics platform CargoWise is said to help customers to increase their productivity, reduce costs, and mitigate risks.

Last month, WiseTech Global acquired Envase Technologies, which offers transport management system software for intermodal trucking, drayage in North America, for $230 million.