WiseTech’s White shrugs off critics to chase global dream

Richard White has wasted no time in his new role at WiseTech, striking a deal to take over a Colombian freight tech business as he pursues his global growth ambitions.

WiseTech executive chairman Richard White. Picture: Jonathan Ng

WiseTech founder Richard White has wasted no time in his new role as executive chairman of the logistics titan, striking a deal to take over a Colombian freight tech business as he pursues his global growth ambitions.

As the Australian Securities & Investments Commission quizzes whether WiseTech broke the Corporations Act after Mr White’s dramatic appointment as executive chair amid a boardroom exodus, WiseTech has snapped up Bogota-based Opentecnologia for an undisclosed sum.

It is the first major deal WiseTech has made after Mr White reclaimed control of the company he founded 30 years ago last week.

The billionaire assumed the role of executive chairman last Wednesday after he resigned as chief executive late last year after a series of explosive allegations, including that he exchanged business advice for sex and half the board quit in protest over his new $1m-a-yer consulting role.

But Mr White has shrugged off potentially regulatory and governance concerts about his reaccession at the company.

“They (international customers) don’t think about this market or these governance issues in Australia, they think about what is right for them for their product and their business,” Mr White told investors last week.

On Tuesday, WiseTech said the acquisition of Opentecnología would deepen the capability of its flagship CargoWise global customs capability in Latin America, highlighting that Colombia was the region’s fourth-biggest economy. It said it would also springboard its efforts to gain more of a foothold in the US.

Opentecnología, founded in 2004, has established itself as a “leader in providing specialised software solutions for the logistics and business sector”, WiseTech said in a statement to the ASX.

“Through its platforms, Opentecnología enables importers and exporters to efficiently comply with their customs, tax, and fiscal obligations, ensuring the secure generation and transmission of electronic documents.”

WiseTech said Opentecnología holds a current authorisation issued by the National Tax and Customs Directorate as a technology provider.

“This supports its ability to offer electronic document interoperability services within Colombia’s electronic invoicing ecosystem. Furthermore, its close relationship with DIAN and participation in working groups led by the country’s main logistics guilds position Opentecnología as a key player in defining and adopting new data integration and interoperability standards.

“Opentecnologia ensures that its users can reliably comply with Colombian tax regulations through a unified platform that simplifies billing, payment, and regulatory compliance processes. With this approach, Opentecnologia not only drives efficiency and growth for its clients, but also contributes to the development of foreign trade and the country’s competitiveness, reinforcing its position as a benchmark company in the Colombian market for logistics and international trade technology solutions.

WiseTech chief execution officer Vlad Bilanovsky said: “Colombia is an important near shoring option for the US 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 (Latin America) 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 per cent of global manufactured trade flows.”

Opentecnologia’s operations will be integrated within the WiseTech and remain under the current leadership of Alex Gordillo and Sandra Guerrero.

Mr Gordillo said: “Joining WiseTech Global brings many benefits to Opentecnologia’s customers, product development and most importantly our people”.

“As part of a global team with strong relationships with large global freight forwarders and extensive resources, we have a path to grow our business in a way that we wouldn’t have been able to do on our own,” he said.

“Our customers will benefit from improved efficiencies while still being supported by a solution tailored to Colombia’s customs requirements. And a wealth of new career opportunities are now available for our people. We are very excited in this next chapter in Opentecnologia’s ongoing legacy and journey into the future.”

Originally published as WiseTech’s White shrugs off critics to chase global dream