JOHNS CREEK, Ga., Jan. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ebix, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBIX), a leading international supplier of On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries, today announced that one of its Indian subsidiaries has signed agreements to acquire the assets of Delhi based Pearl International Tour & Travels and Mumbai based Lawson Travels & Tours. The two companies cumulatively conduct a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of approximately $140 million or Indian Rupees 1000 crores. Both these companies will be tightly integrated into EbixCash’s Via travel Division.
The acquisition of the assets of the two companies will increase EbixCash’s travel expanse across its two travels brands Via & Mercury, to a total GMV of INR 8,100 crores or $ 1.16 Billion. Besides increasing EbixCash’s travel foothold by 10,000 agents, it will also add 300 corporate clients and key B2C portals like www.sastiticket.com to the EbixCash travel spectrum of products and services.
The two acquisitions will cumulatively add approximately 450+ employees, 11 branches and 10,000 agents, leading to EbixCash’s travel portfolio having 2,200+ employees, 212,450+ agent network, 25 branches and 9800+ corporate clients.
Ebix believes that the two acquisitions once fully integrated into its Via Division will generate operating margins of 30% or more, over the next few months. Ebix expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to its earnings. Ebix funded the acquisition using its internal cash reserves and did not use any investment bankers for the transaction.
Incorporated in 1992, Pearl International Tours and Travels Limited, provides a comprehensive range of B2B and B2C travel services, ranging from domestic and international ticketing, incentives travel, leisure products, luxury holidays, to foreign exchange and travel documentation. The Company has pioneered many firsts in the industry including powering PayTM’s travel portfolio till last year. Apart from servicing customers via its branch network in 10 cities, the Company developed its portal www.Sastiticket.com to service customers online. Through Sastiticket.com and its strong leadership the Company has developed a network of over 7,000 travel agents pan India, hundreds of distributors, and a pan India sales force for distribution of airline, bus and hotel content. For more information, visit the Company’s website at www.travelwithpearl.com
Started in 1991, Lawson Travels & Tours has a strong focus on B2B clients and international ticketing. The Company’s core geographical strength is in the Southern and Western areas of the country, with a special focus on Kerala and the related Middle East markets, serviced through its 3,000 agents in Kerala alone. For more information, visit the Company’s website at www.lawsononline.com
Arjun Seth, Managing Director, Pearl International Tours & Travels said, “I am happy that Pearl & Sastiticket.com will find a new home at Ebix. Being part of a larger global organization will bring best in class systems and processes as also help build the business further synergistically. With further investments in product development, technology, and distribution infrastructure, we remain committed to delivering the broad product offering and value-added customer support that our channel partners and end-users have come to expect from us. We believe that as a part of EbixCash’s Via umbrella, we will continue to charter new frontiers in terms of growth in 2019 and beyond.”
John Thomas, Managing Director, Lawson Travels said, “It is a historic day for Lawson Travel as we begin a new chapter as a part of the Ebix family. It is an emotional time for me as I take this step but am excited to see how this new mighty travel conglomerate takes shape. Our team at Lawson is young and dynamic and has deep knowledge of the travel market. I believe that Lawson’s travel expertise, leadership team, product portfolio when blended with EbixCash’s rich Travel portfolio and one of the most experienced leadership teams in the industry; has the ingredients and potential to dominate the Indian Travel industry.”
Ebix Chairman, President and CEO Robin Raina said “We have set up a very simple goal for ourselves in 2019 as far as the travel industry goes. We want to be India’s most profitable travel company besides being a clear No. 2 in terms of top line by the end of 2019. With GMV of approximately 8,000 crores ($ 1.16 Billion) including Pearl and Lawson at present, we are clearly getting very close to that goal. We are in the unique position of having a rich portfolio of other services like travel insurance, health insurance, foreign exchange, outward remittances, visa services etc. that perfectly complement our travel portfolio leading to extensive cross selling opportunities for us and a one-stop service experience for our B2B and B2C travel clients across the globe.”
EbixCash has two travel brands – the Mercury Luxury initiative and the Via.com travel initiative, that have uniquely positioned EbixCash as India’s largest Financial Exchange with end-to-end travel solutions for all sections of the society.
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, healthcare and e-learning 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 330,000 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, Forex, travel, pre-paid & gift cards, utility payments, lending etc., in an emerging country like India. The Company’s Forex Exchange has a dominant market share of India’s airport Foreign Exchange business encompassing 32 international airports like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Goa and Kolkata International airports, while conducting over $3 Billion in GMV. EbixCash, through its travel portals Via.com and Mercury, is also one of Southeast Asia’s leading travel exchanges with over 220,000 distribution outlets and 9,800+ corporate clients processing over $1.16 Billion in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) 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
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: CONTACT: Darren Joseph or Gautam Sharma 678-281-2027 or [email protected] David Collins or Chris Eddy Catalyst Global - 212-924-9800 or [email protected]
