WiseTech Global has continued its trend of acquiring companies around the world and has announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Latin American customs and logistics technology business Opentecnología S.A.
The deal, which is subject to certain conditions precedent, is set to further the CargoWise global customs capability in the region.
Opentecnología S.A was founded in 2004 and continues to be headquartered in Bogota, Colombia. It holds a current authorisation issued by the National Tax and Customs Directorate as a technology provider and supports the ability to offer electronic document interoperability services within the country’s invoicing system.
News of the acquisition has come following continued challenges experienced by WiseTech at the executive level. The Australian-founded company recently underwent a dramatic reshuffle of its board following the resignation of four members.
Lisa Brock, Richard Dammery, Michael Malone and Fiona Pak-Poy all departed their roles due to “intractable differences in the Board and differing views around the ongoing role of Founder and Founding CEO Richard White”.
WiseTech Global Chief Execution Officer Vlad Bilanovsky says the acquisition will improve the company’s foothold in the growing Latin America international trade sector.
“I am impressed with Opentecnología’s local customs and compliance software capability and an expert team who bring deep domain experience in both customs requirements and software development.” Bilanovsky says.
“Colombia is an important nearshoring option for the U.S. and a key market for many of the large global freight forwarders who already use CargoWise.
“By becoming part of the CargoWise global customs solution, large global logistics service providers will be able to significantly improve the efficiency of managing the end-to-end shipment process in and out of Colombia, all within CargoWise.
“With the LATAM region’s growing importance in international trade, we continue to invest in customs footholds across the region as part of our goal for WiseTech’s global customs platform to cover 90% of global manufactured trade flows.”
Opentecnología’s operations will be integrated within the WiseTech Global group and remain under the current leadership of Alex Gordillo and Sandra Guerrero. Opentecnología will continue to deliver its solutions directly to its customers and offer other CargoWise solutions over time.
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