Ebix to acquire India's Yatra Online for $338m

Shareholders in Yatra will be compensated in Ebix convertible preferred stock. The offer values Yatra at $4.90 per share, a 32% premium to the March 8 closing price, the last trading day prior to the public disclosure of Ebix’s interest. The net equity value of the transaction would be $239 million.

As of March 2018, Norwest Venture Partners owned 6.76% of Yatra, Reliance Capital had 8.43%, and Indian media group TV 18 Group had 7.06%, while Chiratae Ventures – previously IDG Ventures – and Vertex Ventures held smaller stakes. Reliance, Norwest, Intel Capital, Chiratae, and Vertex participated in a $23 million round for Yatra in 2014. TV 18 led a $45 million round with Valiant Capital in 2011.

The company completed a reverse merger with a NASDAQ-listed entity in 2016 at a valuation of $218 million. Macquarie Capital contributed $20 million to the deal and now holds 15.96%.

Yatra claims to be a leading travel services provider to India’s corporate and consumer markets. It offers pricing and availability information, as well as facilitating books, for air, bus and train travel, hotels, package holidays, and tourist activities. The company provides real-time booking services for 100,000 hotels in India and over one million globally.

Revenue came to INR12.2 billion ($188.1 million) in 2018 – 90% of it from air tickets, hotels and packages – up from INR9.36 billion the previous year. Over the same period, Yatra’s net loss narrowed from INR5.94 billion to INR4.06 billion.

“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,” said Dhruv Shringi, co-founder and CEO of Yatra, in a statement.

Ebix, which generated $497.8 million in revenue last year, supplies on-demand software and e-commerce services – such as customer relationship management software, front-end and back-end systems, and outsourced administration and risk services – to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries. The EbixCash portfolio includes substantial foreign exchange, remittance and travel services in Southeast Asia and India.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Trade sale
• Technology
• India
• TMT
• Norwest Venture Partners
• Chiratae Ventures
• Vertex Management (II)