Ebix Inc offered to acquire Yatra Online Inc, parent of travel portal yatra.com, for about $336 million (around Rs 2,350 crore) in either cash or stock or a mix of both, as it looks to boost its travel business.
After the transaction, Ebix intends to merge Yatra Online with its Indian subsidiary EbixCash, that provides remittance services, the Nasdaq-listed software company said in a statement.
“We believe that Yatra Online's products and services are complementary to EbixCash's travel portfolio of Via and Mercury,” Robin Raina, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Ebix, said. A combination of the two companies will provide significant synergies and create India's largest and most profitable travel services company, Raina said in the statement.
Ebix said offered $7 a share or a premium of 84 percent to Yatra Online's closing price on Friday. The company, however, said it might reduce its offer if it does not receive a positive response from the board of Yatra Online, as well as reserved the right to withdraw the offer if Yatra Online declines to allow the company to proceed with due diligence by March 18.
Shares of Yatra Online rose 15 percent after the announcement, but the company has not made any comment so far.
Ebix has made several deals in the travel segment earlier. EbixCash had acquired Mumbai-based Mercury Travels and Delhi-based Leisure Corp last year. In October 2017, it had acquired travel agency Via for about $75 million.
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