The partnership between Blue Strata and Investec Bank has been taken to the next level as trading begun this week under Investec Import Solutions.
Following last year's transaction in which Investec acquired the remaining 51.5% shareholding in Import solutions company Blue Strata, the company is now fully integrated into Investec Bank as a wholly-owned subsidiary and forms part of its corporate and institutional division.
According to Investec Import Solutions, the company imports in excess of R8 billion annually and the partnership seeks to facilitate and manage the import transactions on behalf of its clients who come from a multitude of industries. This is done through financing the cost of goods as well as proving online reporting and monitoring of the imported goods.
Adam Orlin, head of Investec Import Solutions, says through the partnership Investec provides interactive online reporting through BlueLink, a Web-based client portal which provides the client with greater online visibility for the strategic management of their import supply chain and improved control of their supplier relationships, costs and availability of products.
"Investec Import Solutions has developed a proprietary online system, using an Oracle platform, to seamlessly integrate the physical and financial supply chains onto one platform in order to streamline transaction management," he reveals.
BlueLink, he continues, enables Investec Import Solutions to manage the full end-to-end supply of products, allowing it to assist clients with imports from across the world and across a multitude of industries and sectors with online access to real-time orders, forex information, shipment and delivery details, as well as payment particulars.
Explaining how it works, he says importers have a dashboard view of their orders, are be able to monitor their products as well as determine their total landed costs, including the cost of finance and other disbursements.
Richard Wainwright, CEO of Investec Bank, says the two companies have had a successful partnership for many years and the acquisition last year was a strategic one to incorporate respective value propositions into one comprehensive offering to a wider customer base.
"Investec Import Solutions facilitates every aspect of an import transaction from order placement, confirmation and tracking through to the hedging of foreign exchange risk and the management of import logistics until delivery to a client's warehouse.
What's more, Wainwright continues, by financing the cost of goods as well as the forwarding, clearing duty and other local costs involved in the import transaction, Investec Import Solutions releases a client's working capital that is tied up in imports and provides the client with payment terms that closely match their cash-flow cycle.
"We are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead and as our company has now set its path in this positive direction, we look forward to continuing to serve our new and existing customers as Investec Import Solutions," concludes Orlin.
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