Körber AG Acquires HighJump
Sunil Grover, Managing Partner
sgrover@truebluepartners.com
(669) 900-4031
Deal Financials
Valuations undisclosed
Transaction Overview
- On August 30, 2017 Körber AG, announced its acquisition of HighJump Software Inc.
- HighJump was a portfolio company of Accel-KKR, and specializes in supply chain software, serving over 4,000 customers across the retail, consumer products, automotive, aerospace, pharma, and food/beverage industries. It offers a cloud-based HighJump One Platform on which it deploys its WMS, TMS, 3PL, DSD, and shipping applications. In Q12017, HighJump had acquired two logistics solutions companies, Vitech and Redtail. Revenues in Jan 2015 were roughly $150m.
- TrueCommerce, a cloud based business-to-business commerce network and former sister company to HighJump, will continue to be owned by Accellos Holdings and Accel-KKR.
- Körber AG is a $2.5b revenue Germany based technology conglomerate operating in the areas of automation, logistics, machine tools, pharma, tissue, tobacco, and corporate ventures.
- Körber is aggressively seeking acquisitions to boost its US-based supply chain logistics software offerings and in July acquired DMLogic. With the acquisition of HighJump and the software companies Inconso, Aberle Software, and Aldata Retail Solutions, which already belong to the Körber Group, Körber underlines its claim to be the technology leader in the SCM software segment.
SaaS and Globalization are Driving M&A in the Supply Chain Logistics Technology Application Space
- The globalization of eCommerce and the Amazon effect are forcing companies to redesign their supply chains and incorporate software automation and analytics. Market sentiment is that logistics providers without a strong technology leverage will have a difficult time differentiating their offerings.
- There have been a number of acquisitions in this space this year. A notable transaction includes the establishment of Logistyx, which was formed by the three-way merger of Pantechnik, ADSI, and Agile Network, as reported in our May 31st Spotlight.
