Descartes Systems Group has acquired privately held Imanet, a provider of enterprise and on-demand technology solutions to customs brokers, freight forwarders, exporters and self-clearing importers. Descartes said Imanet’s solutions focus on enabling members of the international trade community to communicate with Canada Border & Security Agency (CBSA). Leading customs brokers, freight forwarders and Canadian importers manage their shipments and interactions with CBSA using Imanet’s solutions.
Imanet adds approximately 50 members to Descartes’ Global Logistics Network (GLN), with particularly strong ties to the Canadian customs broker community and CBSA, Descartes noted.
Further, the company said Imanet’s solutions complement Descartes’ Global Trade Compliance and Customs Filing solutions, where Descartes’ GLN community members use solutions that are united by design to manage multi-jurisdictional customs filing for international shipments without expensive or time-consuming manual re-keying for each customs authority.
“Our Canadian customs brokerage and filing solutions are a natural extension of Descartes’ Global Logistics Network. As well, our customers can benefit from being part of one of the world’s largest logistics communities of connected trading partners,” said Benn Bekic, exxecutive vp, sales & marketing at Imanet and now vp, GLN Canada at Descartes. “Our combined offering provides comprehensive functionality for those importing and exporting across the U.S./Canada border – one of the busiest borders in the world.”
Imanet is based in Windsor, ON, and has approximately 25 personnel. To complete the acquisition, net of working capital received, Descartes paid approximately CDN $6.0 million (approximately USD $5.9 million at April 19, 2010) and incurred certain transaction expenses.
Descartes has more than 500 employees and is based in Waterloo, ON, with operations in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Copenhagen, Eindhoven, Gent, Heverlee, Lier, Namestovo, Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Montreal, Miami, Washington DC, Derby, London, Silver Spring, Stockholm, Suzhou, Shanghai, Tokyo, Toronto, and Zilina.
