Mumbai: Ebix, an IT services vendor to the financial sector, on Friday said it will acquire the money transfer business of BSE-listed Transcorp International for $7.4 million or Rs46 crore in an all-cash deal.
This will be the Noida-headquartered company’s fourth remittances-related acquisition in the last five months and will increase its share in the inward international remittance market to up to 80%, it said in a statement. The acquisition is being done through one of its Indian subsidiaries present in the domestic remittance market, Ebixcash, it said, adding that it is subject to regulatory approvals which should take about two months.
Ebix has entered into an agreement to acquire the Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS) business of the BSE-listed Transcorp International. Ebixcash’s chief growth officer, Bhavik Vasa, said, “Post announcing our USD 200 million growth fund for India, this is our fifth M&A deal, solidifying our leadership position across digital payments and money transfer in India.”
He said the acquisition will also help expand its distribution footprint to 2.31 lakh outlets across the country. The target business processes 1.7 million transactions per annum through 7,500 distribution outlets and 70 branches. Other inward remittance-related businesses acquired by Ebix recently include Youfirst Money Express, Paul Merchants and Wall Street Finance.
“We genuinely believe that EbixCash is a logical home for Transcorp MTSS assets, as it complements EbixCash’s financial exchange portfolio perfectly, opening up tremendous cross-selling opportunities on both sides,” Ashok Aggarwal, the chairman and managing director of Transcrop said.
However, shareholders of Transcorp did not seem to be enthused with the announcement as the scrip was trading 4.95% down at Rs56.60 a piece on the BSE as against a 0.54% increase on the benchmark.
Catch all the Industry News, Banking News and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.