WiseTech Global, based in Sydney, Australia, has acquired Blume Global, a North American solution facilitating intermodal rail, a press release reported. The transaction was made using funds managed by Apollo, EQT and other minority shareholders.
“This is another strategically significant acquisition that follows our acquisition of Envase Technologies last month,” Richard White, founder and CEO of WiseTech Global, said. “It 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.”
Blume helps manage the transportation of goods by managing containers and equipment for railroads, ocean carriers and other companies tasked with distributing goods worldwide.
“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,” White said. “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.”
The growing business is expected to generate between $65 and $70 million in 2024, representing a growth rate of 45%-55% compared to the previous year. Blume hopes to finish covering its costs by the end of 2024, with a profit margin of approximately 10%.
“This transaction underscores the tremendous growth of Blume since establishing it as an independent company in 2019,” Justin Korval, partner in Apollo Hybrid Value, and Antoine Munfakh, partner in Apollo Private Equity, said. “By providing meaningful growth capital and strategic support, Blume’s management team was empowered to pursue an ambitious expansion strategy and successfully develop an industry leading supply-chain technology platform. We wish Pervinder and the entire team the best in this exciting next chapter.”