ASX-listed WiseTech pays $372m for US company Envase Technologies

Shares in the Sydney tech company, founded by a billionaire former AC/DC guitar tech, have soared over the past year.

Wisetech founder and chief executive Richard Wise.

WiseTech Global, the listed logistics software maker, has acquired Envase Technologies, in a deal worth $US230m ($327m).

WiseTech is acquiring Envase from private investor Firmament and a small number of other sellers, and will fund the transaction via a combination of cash and new WiseTech shares issued to the vendors.

Envase was founded in 2020 and supplies transport management system software across North America. It has more than 1300 customers including trucking companies, ports, depots, and warehouses.

“This is a strategically significant acquisition in landside logistics, which extends and strengthens our position in one of our six key CargoWise development priority areas, and we’re extremely pleased to have the Envase team join the WiseTech Global group,” WiseTech chief executive Richard White said.

WiseTech provides cloud-based software for the logistics industry, giving freight forwarders a single platform to manage the movement of goods from start to finish.

Envase chief executive Larry Cuddy Jr said: “Over the past few years, we have assembled and integrated a powerful suite of landside logistics solutions.

“Combined with the strength and size of WiseTech and its CargoWise platform, and depth in international logistics, we have a powerful platform that we expect to further increase capacity and utilisation and drive innovation in what is an intensely complex and highly fragmented ecosystem.”

E&P Financial technology analyst Paul Mason said he would not expect the acquisition to cause much movement in shares. They closed at $56.06, up 0.9 per cent.

“We would expect Wisetech will re-run its same playbook of buying this business in order to replicate the software within CargoWise,” Mr Mason said.