Ebix acquires Mercury Travels, Leisure Corp for $14.2 mn

Atlanta-based Ebix today said its Indian subsidiary EbixCash has signed agreements to acquire Mumbai-based Mercury Travels and Delhi-based Leisure Corp for about USD 14.2 million, to create a new travel division that will focus on a niche segment.

The new company, Mercury, will focus on the luxury, events and sports related traveller and will be led by the Leisure Corp founder, Naveen Kundu, a release said here.

Kundu will hold 15 per cent stake in this new Mercury initiative, while Ebix will have a controlling 85 per cent share in the venture.

Ebix will now have two brands in the travel segment focused on different niche audiences Via and Mercury.

"Between this Mercury initiative and our existing Via.com travel initiative, we are now uniquely positioned as an financial exchange that has end-to-end travel solutions for all sections of the society," said Robin Raina, chairman, president and chief executive officer, Ebix.

The acquisition of Mercury and Leisure Corp will increase the employee strength of Ebix in India by around 400 to about 7,600 employees, the release said.

Ebix intends to consolidate these two acquisitions into its financial exchange - EbixCash - while bringing significant synergies and redundancies to the combined operation, it added.