Global trade management specialist increasing expertise in U.S. chemical, consumer goods, industrial verticals
Dulles, VA — June 20, 2003 — Vastera, a provider of solutions for global trade management (GTM), is set to acquire General Electric's internal U.S. Customs Operation in a deal that Vastera says will give it increased expertise in several industry verticals.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Vastera said it would integrate the GE operation, which currently performs customs-related services for a number of GE's business units, into Vastera's own managed services operation. The provider's plans call for combining GE's existing technology and expertise with Vastera's TradeSphere software and trade process improvements to expand its current managed services offering.
"This acquisition immediately provides Vastera with increased expertise in the chemical, consumer goods and industrial verticals throughout the United States," Vastera said in a statement.
In addition to the acquisition of the GE unit, Vastera has entered into a managed service agreement to provide trade services to GE's Plastics, Specialty Materials, Supply, Consumer Products and Power Systems (NAFTA support) businesses. Vastera will provide classification, NAFTA solicitation and qualification, import compliance, import management, broker management and supply chain visibility services in the United States.
The parties also have agreed to potentially expand the use of Vastera's services to support GE businesses in China and other global locations. Several GE businesses currently use Vastera's TradeSphere software products and will continue to use Vastera to support their export trade operations in the United States and Europe, according to the solution provider.
The deal is the second recent acquisition in the global trade management arena. Just last week iSourceonline reported that GTM provider TradeBeam had acquired Qiva for an undisclosed amount of cash. (See related story.)
For more information on how companies are using global trade management solutions to increase their supply chain security, see "Building the Secure Supply Chain," the Net Best Thing article in the June/July 2003 issue of iSource Business.
For more information on transportation management systems, see the Global Enabled Supply and Demand Chain Series article on "Fulfillment and Logistics" in the June/July 2003 issue of iSource Business.
