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 entered into an agreement to acquire a majority stake
in India based Smartclass Educational Services Private Limited
(Smartclass), a leading e-learning Company engaged in the business
of education services, development of education products, and
implementation of education solutions for K-12 Schools.
Ebix expects the acquisition to be immediately
accretive to its earnings and forecasts up to $0.20 in increased
Diluted EPS, once the acquisition is fully integrated over the next
6 months. Under the terms of the agreement, Ebix will pay up to $8
million in cash for its stake in Smartclass.
Smartclass is one of India’s leading e-learning
companies catering to the fast-growing K-12 education sector in
India. With staff strength of approximately 500 employees out of a
total of 1000 staff, dedicated to research & development and
customer engagement, the Company caters to accredited school
education through rich media like 2-D, 3-D, Virtual reality
animation etc. Smartclass’s 500-strong sales and marketing staff
across the country has helped create a strong growth trajectory, in
terms of top line and reach for the Company.
Smartclass today has a customer base
encompassing thousands of classrooms, paying for Smartclass
e-learning products and services in an on-demand subscription
basis. Smartclass will be tightly integrated into Ebix’s Education
and e-learning initiatives in India and is seen as one of the many
steps, that Ebix intends to take with an intent to invest up to
$100 million in the sector.
Ebix Chairman, President and CEO Robin Raina
said, “The e-learning business model is typically asset lite and
caters well to strong recurring operating margins, once the
customer aggregation crosses the threshold levels. We have been
eyeing India’s fast-growing e-learning sector for many years now,
fueled by education being one of the highest spending areas
traditionally for an Indian median household. Towards that
extent, we have earmarked a $100 million amount for investment in
India’s e-learning sector and the acquisition of Smartclass is a
logical first step for Ebix to establish its presence in the
country’s e-learning markets.”
“A few years back, we started investing in the
healthcare e-learning sector through our Indian subsidiary
acquiring Birmingham based Oakstone LLC. Any business-like
e-learning where you can create an asset and sell it thousands of
times, has strong possibilities of generating strong operating
margins and cash flows,” Robin added. “When you consider the strong
focus that the Indian Government has put on investing in the
e-learning sector in the recent budget, the present nascent state
of the country’s education infrastructure, and the fast growth that
high tech companies like Smartclass have experienced in India, the
decision to take up a strong position in the country’s e-learning
markets became an easy one for Ebix.”
Divya Lal, Smartclass Chief Executive Officer,
said, ”We are very excited by the possibilities of growth,
geographical reach and financial strength that this investment from
Ebix brings to Smartclass. We look forward to becoming a part of
the Ebix family and replicating Ebix’s international success over
the last two decades, to build upon our existing strengths and take
a leadership place in India’s e-learning industry.”
About Ebix, Inc.
With 50+ offices across 5 continents, Ebix,
Inc., (NASDAQ:EBIX) endeavors to provide On-Demand software and
E-commerce services to the insurance, financial, e-learning and
healthcare industries. In the Insurance sector, the Company’s main
focus is to develop and deploy a wide variety of insurance and
reinsurance exchanges on an on-demand basis, while also, providing
Software-as-a-Service ("SaaS") enterprise solutions in the area of
CRM, front-end & back-end systems, outsourced administrative
and risk compliance, across the world.
With a "Phygital” strategy that combines 231,500
physical distribution outlets in many Southeast Asian Nations
(“ASEAN”) countries to an Omni-channel online digital platform, the
Company’s EbixCash Financial exchange portfolio encompasses
leadership in areas of domestic & international money
remittance, travel, pre-paid & gift cards, utility payments,
etc., in an emerging country like India. EbixCash, through its
travel portal Via.com, is also one of Southeast Asia’s leading
travel exchanges with over 110,000 distribution outlets and 8,000
corporate clients processing over 24.5 million transactions every
year. For further details, visit www.ebixcash.com
Through its various SaaS-based software
platforms, Ebix employs thousands of domain-specific 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 Smartclass Educational Services
Private Limited (Smartclass)
With a strong customer base encompassing
thousands of class rooms, Smartclass is a leading e-learning and
education company in India, that is seen as the pioneer of digital
classrooms in India. Smartclass Educational offers innovative
products & solutions to enable learners and teachers reach
excellence.
Equipped with a powerful vision, the Company is
engaged in the business of education services, development of
education products, and implementation of education solutions for
K-12 Schools. The Company has won several awards including Digital
Learning Company of the year by Edtech review, Digital Disruptor
award for 2017 by IDC, and the Best Digital teaching tool award by
India Education Awards 2017. For more information, visit the
Company’s website at www.smartlearning.com
SAFE HARBOR REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING
STATEMENTS
As used herein, the terms “Ebix,” “the Company,”
“we,” “our” and “us” refer to Ebix, Inc., a Delaware corporation,
and its consolidated subsidiaries as a combined entity, except
where it is clear that the terms mean only Ebix, Inc.
The information contained in this Press Release
contains forward-looking statements and information within the
"safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. This
information includes assumptions made by, and information currently
available to management, including statements regarding future
economic performance and financial condition, liquidity and capital
resources, acceptance of the Company's products by the market, and
management's plans and objectives. In addition, certain statements
included in this and our future filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission ("SEC"), in press releases, and in oral and
written statements made by us or with our approval, which are not
statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements.
Words such as "may," "could," "should," "would," "believe,"
"expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "seeks," "plan,"
"project," "continue," "predict," "will," "should," and other words
or expressions of similar meaning are intended by the Company to
identify forward-looking statements, although not all
forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These
forward-looking statements are found at various places throughout
this report and in the documents incorporated herein by reference.
These statements are based on our current expectations about future
events or results and information that is currently available to
us, involve assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, and speak only
as of the date on which such statements are made.
Our actual results may differ materially from
those expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements.
Factors that may cause such a difference, include, but are not
limited to those discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and
subsequent reports filed with the SEC, as well as: the risk of an
unfavorable outcome of the pending governmental investigations or
shareholder class action lawsuits, reputational harm caused by such
investigations and lawsuits, the willingness of independent
insurance agencies to outsource their computer and other processing
needs to third parties; pricing and other competitive pressures and
the Company's ability to gain or maintain share of sales as a
result of actions by competitors and others; changes in estimates
in critical accounting judgments; changes in or failure to comply
with laws and regulations, including accounting standards, taxation
requirements (including tax rate changes, new tax laws and revised
tax interpretations) in domestic or foreign jurisdictions; exchange
rate fluctuations and other risks associated with investments and
operations in foreign countries (particularly in Australia, UK and
India wherein we have significant operations); equity markets,
including market disruptions and significant interest rate
fluctuations, which may impede our access to, or increase the cost
of, external financing; and international conflict, including
terrorist acts.
Except as expressly required by the federal
securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update any
such factors, or to publicly announce the results of, or changes to
any of the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect
future events, developments, changed circumstances, or for any
other reason.
Readers should carefully review the disclosures
and the risk factors described in the documents we file from time
to time with the SEC, including future reports on Forms 10-Q and
8-K, and any amendments thereto. You may obtain our SEC filings at
our website, www.ebix.com under the "Investor Information" section,
or over the Internet at the SEC's web site, www.sec.gov.
CONTACT:
Bhavik Vasa+91 9819389881 or
bhavikv@ebixcash.com
Darren Joseph678 -281-2027 or IR@ebix.com
David Collins or Chris EddyCatalyst Global - 212-924-9800 or
ebix@catalyst-ir.com
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