Ebix to acquire money transfer biz of Transcrop for $7.4 mn

Ebixcash's chief growth officer said that the acquisition will also help expand its distribution footprint to 2.31 lakh outlets across the country

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 Rs 460 million 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 per cent, 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  $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 EbixCashs 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 per cent down at Rs 56.60 a piece on the BSE at 1352 hrs as against a 0.44 per cent increase on the benchmark.