American IT firm Ebix to spend $200 mn more on buyouts in India
MUMBAI: American software and services company Ebix Inc., which bought payments firm ItzCash for $120 million in May, plans to spend at least an extra $200 million for acquisitions in India, a top executive said.
The Nasdaq-listed company provides solutions on infrastructure exchanges, enterprise systems and risk compliance in insurance, healthcare and financial services, among others.
“We had earlier planned and talked about spending a $100 million, but I think that number is too small for where we are headed right now. We will end up spending at least twice that amount,” said Robin Raina, CEO, Ebix Inc. After ItzCash, Ebix has spent $60-65 million in acquiring three remittance businesses, he added.
Ebix entered India with the purchase of 80% in ItzCash for ₹800 crore from Essel Group and other shareholders in May.
In September, Ebix acquired the money transfer business of Paul Merchants Ltd for $40.7 million.
In August, Mint reported that Ebix had agreed to acquire the money transfer service scheme (MTSS) business of YouFirst Money Express Pvt. Ltd. Also in August, it announced that it would be acquiring the MTSS assets of Wall Street Finance Ltd, along with its unit Goldman Securities Ltd.
Ebix will now look for acquisitions in newer segments such as traveland-lending, Raina said. Through ItzCash, Ebix has presence in prepaid cards, bill payments and remittance. In 2016-17, ItzCash processed payments worth ₹14,000 crore through its network.
“Travel is one of the priorities. We think there is an amazing opportunity in travel. When you travel, there are a lot of different things that happen; consumers buy a lot of different things when they travel and somebody needs to bring all of that together in one place,” said Raina. Lending is another area that Ebix is considering, he added.
Including future acquisitions and its own growth plans, Raina feels Ebix’s India operations has the potential to become a $500 million revenue business in the next 3-4 years.