Ebix Completes Acquisition of Paul Merchants Remittance Business and the Travel Exchange Via.com, while Ending its Bid to Acq...
January 02 2018 - 9:44AM
Ebix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBIX), a leading international supplier of
On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance,
financial, e-governance and healthcare industries, today announced
that it has completed the acquisition of the Money Transfer Service
Scheme (MTSS) Business of Paul Merchants Limited (BSE:PML) and
Via.com, an Omni-channel online travel and assisted e-commerce
exchange. The acquisition of Paul Merchants Inward Remittance
Exchange and the Via.com travel exchange were announced through
press releases dated Sep. 21st 2017 and October 31st 2017
respectively.
Ebix also announced that it has ended its bid to
form a strategic consulting joint venture with Vara Tech's
subsidiary Vara United Private Limited (VARA), since certain
specific closing conditions required in the contract were not met
by the stipulated closing date. Both sides mutually decided not to
pursue the transaction any further.
With a market share of almost 35% percent of
Western Union's inward remittance flows in India, Paul Merchants is
the largest international remittance player in India. This is
Ebix’s third remittance acquisition, following the announcement of
the acquisition of YouFirst Money Express Private Limited and the
asset purchase of Wall Street Finance Limited. Ebix has
consolidated all these acquisitions into its Financial Exchange
operations bringing significant synergies and reducing redundancies
to the combined operation.
The acquisition of the PML MTSS Business, which
controls the largest share of the market, would further strengthen
Ebix’s position in the Financial Exchange market in India,
following its acquisition of ItzCash in May 2017. The addition of
this international capability significantly expands upon Ebix’s
overall participation in India’s remittance channels, and will
allow Ebix’s financial exchange to remit money sent from abroad
through Western Union, Ria, Moneygram or Express Money.
Via is recognized as a leader in the travel
space in India, besides being the only profitable Travel exchange
out of all its peers, while having grown at a CAGR of 45% over the
last 3 years. One of South East Asia’s leading travel exchanges
with over 110,000 distribution outlets and 8,000 corporate clients,
Via processes over 24.5 million transactions every year. The
Company’s integrated online platform offers mobile Phone Recharges,
Money Transfer, Insurance, Prepaid Gift Cards & Retail
Products, besides Domestic & International Air, Hotel &
Holidays, Rail, Bus and Rental Car bookings. Via’s multi-channel
exchange also engages directly with consumers through its B2C
website and mobile application platforms.
The Via distribution network encompasses over
85,000 agents in India, 14,700 agents in Indonesia, 9,900 agents in
Philippines, 600 agents in Singapore and 350 agents in UAE and
Oman. Besides being one of the leaders in the space in India, the
Company has also emerged as the largest travel solutions provider
in the Philippines. With a hotel inventory of over 500,000 hotels
and one of the largest ticketing platforms expanding across
corporates and distribution outlets, Via has a significant share of
the domestic & international airline ticketing business. Via
has more than 5% share in both domestic & international airline
ticketing in India, 10% in Philippines, 2.7% in Indonesia, 2.1% in
Singapore. The Company’s B2C operations in Thailand, Hong Kong and
Saudi Arabia are also gaining traction. The Via distribution
network also handles a wide variety of financial transactions
including mobile recharges, money transfer, insurance, and prepaid
cards, etc.
The Completion of these two acquisitions expands
Ebix’s distribution network to over 224,000 distribution outlets in
the South East of Asia, besides offering significant cross selling
opportunities for Ebix’s EbixCash Financial Exchange portfolio of
products. Ebix’s EbixCash service is already the largest domestic
remittance exchange in India with domestic remittance volume of
approximately $100 million per month.
About Ebix Inc.
A leading international supplier of On-Demand
software and E-commerce services to the insurance, financial,
e-governance and healthcare industries, Ebix, Inc. provides
end-to-end on-Demand solutions ranging from infrastructure
exchanges, front end & back end enterprise systems, outsourced
administrative & custom software development solutions, and
risk compliance solutions for various entities involved in these
industries.
With 45+ offices across Australia, Brazil,
Canada, India, New Zealand, Singapore, the US and the UK, Ebix
powers multiple exchanges across the world in the field of life,
annuity, health and property & casualty insurance while
conducting in excess of $100 billion in insurance premiums annually
on its platforms. Through its various SaaS-based software
platforms, Ebix employs hundreds of domain specific business and
technology professionals to provide products, support and
consultancy to thousands of customers on six continents. For more
information, visit the Company’s website at www.ebix.com
About EbixCash
An Ebix Group initiative, EbixCash is emerging
as one of the leading Financial Exchanges in India. With a
‘Phygital” strategy that combines 224,000 physical distribution
outlets to a Omni-channel online digital platform, EbixCash has
established an enterprise financial exchange portfolio that
encompasses leadership in money remittance (domestic &
international), travel, pre-paid & gift cards, utility payments
etc. Ebix’s recent joint venture initiative with the Bombay Stock
Exchange positions it strongly in India’s insurance sector.
EbixCash’s portfolio of products can be accessed digitally anywhere
as also across its distribution outlets spread over 5,500+ cities
and towns. For further details, visit www.ebixcash.com
CONTACT:
For Ebix –
US
Darren Joseph
678 -281-2027 or IR@ebix.com
David Collins or Chris Eddy
Catalyst Global - 212-924-9800 or ebix@catalyst-ir.com
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