Nasdaq-listed Ebix Inc. is set to buy business of Wall Street Finance Ltd.BSE 20.00 % in a two-leg transaction for Rs. 47 crores, the company said in a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange.
In the first leg, the company will acquire Wall Street Finance’s wholly owned subsidiary Goldman Securities (GSPL) for Rs 5.1 crore. Subsequently, the GSPL will buy out the international money transfer business of Wall Street FinanceBSE 20.00 % for Rs 42.2 crore.
“We are focused on establishing Ebix as a leader in the Financial Exchange markets in India. This acquisition will not only expand our reach in the country, but will establish Ebix as a key player in the international remittance exchange markets,” said Robin Raina, chief executive officer of Ebix.
Wall Street’s shares rose to 20 percent limit at Rs. 32.75 apiece, valuing the firm at Rs. 37.9 crores.
“The fintech space and the payments industry is all set to see a wave of consolidations and the profitable entities like Itz Cash with their war chest is all set to take advantage of the situation and expand operations,” said a person closely associated with the deal on the condition of anonymity.
Itz Cash which has been in the business of remittance and digital payments since 2006, recently got acquired by US based software solution company Ebix. Ebix bought 80% stake in the company for Rs 800 crore, valuing the company at Rs. 1,000 crores.
Itz Cash manages more than 75000 retail outlets across the country and serves 35 million customers annually. Though it had failed to acquire a payment bank licence, it recently got awarded the Bharat Bill Payments licence by the RBI.
Bhavik Vasa, the chief growth officer at Itz Cash who is driving the growth opportunities said that on the lending side, the company would look to give working capital loans to the 75,000 merchants it has partnered with across the country to enable bill payments and money transfer.
