JOHNS CREEK, GA – August 21, 2017 – 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 Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS) Business of YouFirst Money Express Private Limited. This is Ebix’s second acquisition over the last few days, following the announcement of the acquisition of MTSS assets of Wall Street Finance Limited on 17th of August.
With a market share of almost 15% percent of Western Union's inward remittance flows in India, YouFirst is the third largest international remittance player in India. The acquisition of YouFirst and Wall Street MTSS inward remittance assets, gives Ebix approximately 25% of the inward international remittance market in India, further strengthening Ebix’s position in the Financial Exchange market in the country. Ebix intends to consolidate both these acquisitions into its Financial Exchange operations bringing significant synergies and reducing redundancies to the combined operation.
The acquisition is expected to be accretive to Ebix earnings immediately. The Company funded the transaction using its internal cash reserves.
With 75,000+physical retail outlets for ItzCash’s financial exchange, the two acquisitions increase that distribution reach substantially to over 94,000 outlets across the country. Ebix’s ItzCash service is already the largest domestic remittance exchange in India with domestic remittance volume of approximately $100 million per month.
Ebix’s ItzCash exchange is a recognized leader in prepaid cards, domestic remittances and bill payments, processing approximately 600,000 transactions per day and approximately $2 Billion in annual payment volume.
Ebix Chairman, President and CEO Robin Raina. “Following up on the Wall Street Finance’s MTSS assets acquisition announcement a few days back, the acquisition of YouFirst is a significant announcement in our efforts to expand our presence in the Financial Exchange markets in India. It will not only help expand our reach, but also help nurture cross selling and increased revenue opportunities for our distribution outlets. We expect that the consolidation of YouFirst and Wall Street assets into our existing Financial Exchange infrastructure will enhance our operating margins substantially, in the Financial Exchange segment in India.”
A leading international supplier of On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance, financial, e-governance and healthcare industries, Ebix, Inc. provides end-to-end on-Demand solutions ranging from infrastructure exchanges, front end & back end enterprise systems, outsourced administrative & custom software development solutions, and risk compliance solutions for various entities involved in these industries.
With 40+ offices across Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, New Zealand, Singapore, the US and the UK, Ebix powers multiple exchanges across the world in the field of life, annuity, health and property & casualty insurance while conducting in excess of $100 billion in insurance premiums annually on its platforms. Through its various SaaS-based software platforms, Ebix employs hundreds of domain specific business and 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
YouFirst Money Express Pvt. Ltd (YMEL) is a wholly owned subsidiary of YouFirst Ventures Pvt. Ltd, promoted by former Citibanker and RCap Executive Vikrant Gugnani. It is engaged in the business of international inward remittance under the MTSS license from RBI and foreign exchange under the FFMC license from RBI. With a market share of almost 15% percent of Western Union's India inward remittance flows, YMEL is the third largest player in India. With its own network of 36 MTSS Branches and over 10,000 sub-agents across India, YMEL handles over 2.3 million transactions annually with an annual throughput of over USD 800 million. For more information, visit the Company’s website at http://www.youfirst.co.in
An Ebix Group Company now, ItzCash Card Ltd., India’s leading Digital Payments fintech was established in 2006. A pioneer in the prepaid payments in India, ItzCash initiated the concept of ‘digital cash’ to the Indian consumer and various business entities, heralding the beginning towards enabling a cashless transacting society. ItzCash continues to build on its innovation augmenting its product portfolio offering wide choice of payments and money transfer service having issued 110 million accounts to date. It constantly invests in upgrading technology towards creating world-class Omni-channel payments platforms for the emerging India. ItzCash has presence across consumer segments serving 35 million consumers annually and over 75,000 franchisees branded as “ItzCash World” in 3000+ cities and towns. For further details, visit www.itzcash.com
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.
Darren Joseph
678 -281-2027 or IR@ebix.com
David Collins or Chris Eddy
Catalyst Global - 212-924-9800 or ebix@catalyst-ir.com