WiseTech Global Ltd is buying E2open Parent Holdings Inc., a fellow provider of supply chain management software, for $2.1 billion.

The companies announced the transaction late Sunday.

Austin-based E2open provides a cloud platform that helps more than 6,000 companies manage their supply chains. Its installed base includes Dell Technologies Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and other large enterprises. E2open says it tracks more than 18 billion transactions for those customers every year.

The platform offers access to a network of delivery companies that can transport merchandise over land, sea, rail and air. An enterprise seeking to move goods can book shipments through a centralized console. E2open also provides a tool for performing freight consolidation, which is the practice of combining multiple packages into one large shipment to cut costs.

The company’s platform doubles as a merchandise monitoring tool. Companies can track the location of their packages while they’re in transit, as well as detect shipping delays. E2open says that its platform estimates the business impact of such hiccups and highlights remediation methods.

Merchandise arrival delays can be caused by not only slow shipping but also issues with the upstream supplier. According to E2open, its platform includes analytics features that help companies anticipate supplier-related risks. The platform can spot inventory shortfalls, product quality issues and other challenges that may necessitate supply chain changes.

WiseTech likewise competes in the logistics software market. It provides a platform called CargoWise that enterprises use to manage the flow of merchandise throughout their supply chains. CargoWise enables logistics teams to compare delivery companies based on their equipment, manage fulfillment centers and perform related tasks.

WiseTech’s $2.1 billion offer for E2open amounts to $3.30 per share. That represents a 68% premium over the latter company’s closing price before rumors of the acquisition first emerged earlier this month. The deal is the result of a strategic review that E2open launched last year following a slowdown in its revenue growth and pressure from an activist investor.

“E2open and WiseTech have complementary products across transport, logistics, supply and demand ecosystems,” said E2open Chief Executive Officer Andrew Appel.

WiseTech has raised $3 billion in debt to finance the acquisition. Additionally, it has secured backing for the deal from a group of E2open investors that holds most of the company’s voting shares. WiseTech expects to close the transaction by the end of 2025 and estimates that it will become accretive to earnings per share within the following year. 

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