Software company Blue Yonder is planning to go public, the latest technology provider to look at a public stock offering as pandemic-driven upheaval in supply chains draws more interest to tools that help companies manage the flow of goods.
Blue Yonder Holding Inc. said Friday it has confidentially filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering. The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based supply-chain software provider said the number of shares and the price range for the potential offering haven’t been determined.
Japanese electronics maker Panasonic Corp. last year took a 20% stake in Blue Yonder, deepening the companies’ relationship as they jointly develop digital technology for managing logistics, retail and manufacturing operations.
Data research group Garner ranked Blue Yonder last year as the world’s third-largest provider in the supply-chain-management software market, based on 2019 revenue, behind SAP SE and Oracle Corp.
Blue Yonder’s potential IPO comes as investors are pushing millions of dollars into logistics-technology companies that help manage operations including sourcing, shipping and tracking amid a series of supply-chain disruptions around the world. The attention to such tools grew as companies scrambled to retool production at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and has continued as port congestion, commodities shortages, transport capacity squeezes and other shocks have hit business.
Blue Yonder customers with shipments snared when the Ever Given container ship blocked the Suez Canal last month, for example, used the company’s software to assess inventory levels and help with contingency plans such as air transport to get goods around the bottleneck.
Chicago-based project44, which helps track the flow of goods in transit, is weighing a potential public stock offering in the next 18 to 24 months. Supply-chain software provider E2open went public earlier this year through a deal with a special-purpose acquisition company. The transaction closed in February and the merged company, E2open Parent Holdings Inc., is now trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Write to Jennifer Smith at [email protected]
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