Ebix acquires money transfer arm of India's YouFirst
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.
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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.”