newsworthy
Descartes buys Norwegian software company KSD
Descartes Systems Group, a global logistics solutions company, has acquired KSD Software Norway AS, an Oslo-based company that provides electronic customs filing
compliance services for the European Union (EU), in an all-cash deal valued at $33 million.
KSD, with about 1,300 mostly Scandinavian customers,
will expand Waterloo, Ont.-based Descartes’ presence in
the region. KSD provides customs declaration, security filing, transportation management, and freight forwarding
technology services. By combining KSD’s EU customs solutions and Descartes’ global network, the deal provides
businesses with a one-stop shop of worldwide shipment
management services, Descartes said in a statement
announcing the transaction.
The EU customs compliance arena is made up of multiple
member states, each with different and often-byzantine
regulations, languages, and systems. Shippers, carriers, and
intermediaries often turn over the compliance process to
logistics technology specialists like Descartes and KSD.
“EU customs compliance is complex,” Svenn Widerberg,
CEO of KSD, said in the statement. “Our focus is to make
the process easier for customers so that they can instead
focus on their core businesses.”
Edward Ryan, Descartes’ chief commercial officer, said
the companies have about $10 million of annual recurring
revenues that are core to their combined businesses. The
KSD purchase “adds scale for Descartes to serve the wider
logistics community,” Ryan said in the statement.
KSD also has offices in Sweden, Denmark, and the
Netherlands. It started developing logistics software in
1995.
The KSD deal is the third by Descartes in the past year. In
November, the company bought Exentra Transport
Solutions Ltd., which produced a driver compliance solution for the EU. In June 2012, it acquired the assets of
Integrated Export Systems Ltd. and IES Asia Limited, a
provider of regulatory compliance solutions. ;
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