Tag Archives: Robin Raina

EbixCash Private Limited is progressing towards its prospective IPO, reveals Robin Raina, Chairman, President & CEO Ebix Inc. The company has appointed S Ravi, as a new independent director to the EbixCash Board. Ravi is presently serving as the Chairman and Director of Tourism Finance Corporation of India. “As the Chairman of Tourism Finance Corporation of India, he also has a thorough understanding of the travel industry. All of these attributes are extremely valuable to his role on the EbixCash Board as we chart our next cycle of growth and progress towards the prospective IPO,” said Raina.

EbixCash, a fully owned subsidiary of Ebix, has announced a strategic travel technology partnership with Amadeus to grow its footprint across the Asia-Pacific region and UAE and become a one-stop shop for travel. The partnership will provide EbixCash’s online websites, travel agents and corporations in Asia-Pacific and UAE with greater access to the unrivalled breadth of content offered by the Amadeus Travel Platform , enabling EbixCash to better serve its customers. Robin Raina, Chairman of the Board, President & CEO, Ebix, said, “Our vision is to build an end-to-end travel solution for the industry. We want to empower travel agents and travellers alike. EbixCash today is the largest end-to-end financial exchange in the Indian sub-continent, besides its parent company Ebix being the largest insurance exchange in the world. We are always looking for new ways to stay ahead of our competitors. Partnering with Amadeus gives us access to innovative technology that will allow us to further expand our footprint across the region, especially in India, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where we see the greatest potential. Our growth strategy is built on the premise of having an unrivalled ‘phygital’ presence in the region – combining our physical distribution outlets in Southeast Asia with an omnichannel digital presence that allows our seller partners to have access to extensive real-time data and ecommerce solutions across all digital channels. Amadeus’ technology empowers EbixCash to deliver this and truly become a one-stop shop for travel.”  

Ebix will be acquiring Yatra Online via merger, as part of a definitive agreement signed between the two travel giants. Following the completion of the transaction, Yatra will become part of Ebix’s EbixCash travel portfolio alongside Via and Mercury and will continue to serve customers under the Yatra brand. The transaction will create India’s largest and most profitable travel services company, and a leading online travel platform poised to capture significant international growth opportunities. Ebix Chairman, President and CEO Robin Raina, commented, “The acquisition of Yatra would lend itself to significant synergies and the emergence of EbixCash as India’s largest and most profitable travel services company, besides being the largest enterprise financial exchange in the country. Over the last few months, we have evolved a detailed synergistic plan, that once fully executed can provide between 40 to 75 cents of accretion to the Ebix non-GAAP EPS. We are excited by the cross-selling opportunities that this combination provides us, while further strengthening our future EbixCash IPO offering.” Dhruv Shringi, Co-founder and CEO of Yatra Online. “We are pleased to announce this agreement with Ebix, which provides our shareholders with the opportunity to participate in the significant upside potential of one of the fastest growing multinational On-Demand software and E-commerce services companies in the world. Over the last several years, we have built Yatra into one of India’s most well- recognized e-commerce brands, growing into the leading corporate travel services provider and one of the largest consumer travel companies. Becoming a part of Ebix’s EbixCash travel portfolio will enable us to continue on that path. As part of a larger diversified organization with the necessary scale and resources to be a leader …

Ebix has announced that one of its subsidiaries in India has acquired an 80 per cent controlling stake in India-based Zillious Solutions. Zillious is an on-demand SaaS travel technology solution with market leadership in the corporate travel segment in India. The Zillious Exchange processes over 8 million travel bookings annually, which conducting Gross Merchandise value of approximately $1.4 billion per annum. Ebix is funding the transaction in cash, using its internal cash reserves. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to Ebix earnings immediately. Robin Raina, President and CEO, Ebix Chairman of the Board, said, “Ebix has a successful track history of two decades in terms of providing non-aligned technology solutions, with Ebix bullet proofing its clients from data privacy or data sharing or any alignment concerns. We have been in the business of setting up technology airports to power transactions, without taking any sides for decades now. Thus, this acquisition was a natural one for us as it allowed us to do the same in India’s fast-growing travel industry.” Ebix intends to keep Zillious as a non-aligned technology platform, that it intends to promote internationally in key markets like the Middle East, US and Asia besides further establishing it as a pure-play on-demand travel technology exchange within India. Towards that extent, Ebix has retained both the Promoter founders of Zillious – Harsh Azad and Rohit Gaddi along with all their domain intensive staff, while empowering them to continue to lead Zillious in its mission of non-aligned technology play. Accordingly, the Zillious platform will continued to be offered to the entire travel industry with a glass wall protection for the client base.  

EbixCash has announced that it has signed agreements to acquire the assets of Delhi-based Pearl International Tour & Travels and Mumbai-based Lawson Travels & Tours. The two companies cumulatively conduct a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of approximately $140 million. Both these companies will be integrated into EbixCash’s Via travel Division. The acquisition of the assets of the two companies will increase EbixCash’s travel expanse across its two travels brands Via & Mercury, to a total GMV of $ 1.16 Billion. Besides increasing EbixCash’s travel foothold by 10,000 agents, it will also add 300 corporate clients and key B2C portals like www.sastiticket.com to the EbixCash travel spectrum of products and services. Ebix believes that the two acquisitions, once fully integrated into its Via division will generate operating margins of 30 per cent or more, over the next few months. Robin Raina, Chairman, President and CEO, Ebix, said, “We have set up a very simple goal for ourselves in 2019 as far as the travel industry goes. We want to be India’s most profitable travel company besides being a clear No 2 in terms of top line by the end of 2019. With GMV of approximately 8,000 crores ($ 1.16 billion) including Pearl and Lawson at present, we are clearly getting very close to that goal. We are in the unique position of having a rich portfolio of other services like travel insurance, health insurance, foreign exchange, outward remittances, visa services etc., that perfectly complement our travel portfolio leading to extensive cross selling opportunities for us and a one-stop service experience for our B2B and B2C travel clients across the globe.”

Ebix has announced that its EbixCash World Money subsidiary in India has entered into an agreement to acquire 100 per cent assets of India-based Essel Forex for approximately US$8 million. Ebix will be funding the entire transaction in cash, using its internal cash reserves. The acquisition of Essel Forex following the recent announcement of the Weizmann acquisition, further strengthens EbixCash’s position as the largest financial exchange in India, besides being the undisputed leader in the inward remittance, outward remittance and foreign exchange markets in India. With a national network of 44 branches in 31 cities serviced by 400+ employees, Essel Forex has been one of the five largest foreign exchange providers in India with a wide spectrum of related products including sales of all major currencies, travellers’ checks, demand drafts, remittances, money transfers and prepaid cards primarily for the Corporate clients. Besides being a foreign exchange business partner to leading banks such as ICICI, Axis, Indus Ind, Yes and HDFC Bank, Essel Forex has been associated with Western Union and MoneyGram for inward money transfers. Essel Forex will be tightly integrated into the EbixCash Financial Exchange offering in India and abroad. The retained Essel Forex executives will become an integral part of the combined EbixCash remittance and forex leadership team headed by EbixCash World Money Managing Director TC Guruprasad. Ebix believes the Essel Forex business can generate operating margins of 40% or more, once fully integrated. Ebix expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to its earnings. Robin Raina, Chairman, President and CEO, Ebix said, “Essel Forex has a rich focus on the corporate clientele with strong partnerships with many leading banks. Their geographical, product and client overlap with EbixCash made the …

EbixCash has acquired assets of Business Travels and has appointed its owner Praveen Chugh as the Chief Operating Officer of Via agency sales. The company announced that it has decided to further invest in the growth of its B2B business under Chugh, who has immediately taken over as Chief Operating Officer of Via. As a part of the hiring, Chugh’s existing travel company Business Travels Private Limited assets was also acquired by Via. Chugh has been empowered by the company to recruit as many as one hundred domain specific travel sales executives, besides opening up new travel locations across the length and breadth of the country. Robin Raina, Chairman, President and CEO, Ebix, said, “We are excited to have Mr Praveen Chugh on our side. His vast experience, success record and contacts in the world travel industry provide us with an industry veteran who can lead Via B2B Sales to new heights. He has the ability and drive to grow our Via travel division business at high double-digit rates. We believe that the strength of our vast retail network, end-to-end enterprise travel technology and functionality, coupled with strong sales leadership, positions us to grow our travel business aggressively internationally.”

Ebix, Inc, an international supplier of On-Demand software and e-commerce services to the insurance, financial, e-governance and healthcare industries, has acquired India-based CentrumDirect Limited (CDL) that operates in the foreign exchange and outward remittance markets, for approximately US $175 million. CDL will be tightly integrated into Ebix’s Financial Exchange EbixCash offering in India and abroad, with key CDL business executives becoming an integral part of the combined EbixCash senior leadership. Ebix Chairman, President and CEO Robin Raina said, “The acquisition of CDL provides us with new abilities in niche financial exchange sectors while expanding our footprint in India and establishing our EbixCash Financial Exchange as the largest financial exchange in the country. We have been eager to build a strong footprint in India’s airports and shipping ports, as their high levels of customer traffic provide recurring sources of revenue and income for any Financial Exchange. With a long-term presence in 24 international airports, and a few others to be deployed this year, the addition of CDL will substantially extend EbixCash’s branding and leadership position in India’s financial exchange markets.” Raina adds, “CDL already has a strong financial trajectory in terms of top line and operating margins, though we intend to build upon its success through complementary products and operational synergies. I am particularly pleased that the CDL acquisition will also further strengthen our management resources with the addition of CDL’s strong senior leadership team.”

Ebix, Inc, international supplier of on-demand software and e-commerce services to the insurance, financial, e-governance and healthcare industries, has announced that one of its Singapore subsidiaries has entered into an agreement to acquire Bengaluru-based Via.com, an omni-channel online travel and assisted e-commerce exchange. The acquisition of Via expands on Ebix’s distribution network to over 224,000 distribution outlets in the South East of Asia, besides offering significant cross selling opportunities for Ebix’s EbixCash Financial Exchange portfolio of products. Under the terms of the agreement, Via was valued at a total enterprise value of approximately $74.9 million. The closing of the transaction is expected over the next few days. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to Ebix earnings immediately. Via has shown growth at a CAGR of 45 per cent over the last three years with over 110,000 distribution outlets and 8000 corporate clients. Its distribution network encompasses over 85,000 agents in India, 14,700 agents in Indonesia, 9,900 agents in Philippines, 600 agents in Singapore and 350 agents in UAE and Oman. Ebix intends to consolidate this acquisition into its Financial Exchange – EbixCash while bringing significant synergies and redundancies to the combined operation. The acquisition of the Omni-channel Business, would further strengthen Ebix’s position in the Financial Exchange market in India, as travel transactions can be one of the key areas of any leading financial exchange, with an estimated user base of 600 million in India alone. Vani Kola, Managing Director, Kalaari Capital said, “Ebix is a logical home for Via, as it complements EbixCash’s financial exchange portfolio perfectly, opening up tremendous cross-selling opportunities on both sides. We are excited about the possibilities this offers for both our customers and …