BRAZIL:Management and advisory services, from a partner that can help them on a global basis,” said Jim Barber, president of UPS International. “Combining Sandler & Travis Trade Advisory Services with our existing UPS Trade Management Services provides customers with an even more powerful set of solutions designed to maximize their trade investments and minimize complexity, time and cost throughout their international trade operations.”
STTAS’s 750 trade professionals provide services in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America, and help clients comply with the ever-changing and complex rules, regulations and laws covering international trade. Nearly 70 percent of the company’s employees work outside of the U.S. in strategic offices in cities like Shanghai; Bengaluru, India; Aberdeen, Scotland; Warsaw; Mexico City; Buenos Aires and São Paulo, Brazil. These additional locations will complement UPS Trade Management Services’ existing global operations in Hefei, China; Wroclaw, Poland, and Singapore.
STTAS also provides an advanced trade management technology platform that UPS said it will continue to build upon over time. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
While the companies pointed out their common interests in announcing the deal, the acquisition can be seen as somewhat unusual, as it breaks apart STTAS from its parent company and brings UPS a company somewhat outside of its core. It can also be compared to recent deals bringing together Amazon and whole foods, and Walmart and Lord & Taylor, where the agreements serve as value-added transactions rather than purely volume additives in a particular sector.
Earlier this year, UPS acquired zone solutions, which specializes in foreign trade zone (FTZ) services. zone solutions brings UPS customers extensive expertise in navigating all aspects of FTZ operations, providing managed services, systems implementation and consulting.
