DEAL STREET: EBIX SET TO BUY TRAVEL PORTAL VIA.COM

MUMBAI: Ebix Inc, a supplier of on-demand software and e-commerce services to the insurance, financial, e-governance and healthcare industries, on Tuesday said one of its Singapore subsidiaries agreed to acquire Via.com, an online travel and assisted e-commerce exchange.

The acquisition of Via expands Ebix’s distribution network to over 224,000 outlets in South-east Asia, besides offering significant cross-selling opportunities for Ebix’s EbixCash (earlier ItzCash) Financial Exchange portfolio of products, the company said in a statement. The transaction values Via at a total enterprise value of approximately $74.9 million. The closing of the transaction is expected over the next few days.

Earlier this week, Mint reported that Ebix was looking to make significant acquisition bets in the travel space in India, having earmarked over $200 million for strategic acquisitions.

The company entered the Indian market with the purchase of an 80% stake in ItzCash for ₹800 crore from Essel Group and other shareholders in May. Since the ItzCash acquisition, Ebix has spent an additional $60-65 million in acquiring remittance businesses in the country.

According to Bhavik Vasa, chief growth officer at EbixCash, the acquisition will boost Ebix’s presence in the travel space, while also allowing for geographic expansion given that Via.com has a significant presence in South-east Asia.

With Via, the company will also have presence in Southeast Asia, “which matches our aspirations to be able to take our entire platform of EbixCash global”, he said. “This would help us fast forward our footprint in emerging markets of South-east Asia.” Ebix’s next acquisitions could be in areas such as lending, he said.

Ebix will consolidate this acquisition into EbixCash to derive synergies and cross-selling opportunities. “This allows us tremendous cross-selling opportunities through each other’s distribution network,” said Robin Raina, CEO at Ebix Inc.

The Via distribution network encompasses over 85,000 agents in India, 14,700 agents in Indonesia, 9,900 agents in the Philippines, 600 agents in Singapore and 350 agents in the United Arab Emirates and Oman.