Ebix, Yatra, and the $337 million deal that got away

For Ebix, Yatra was the final piece in its Indian IPO puzzle. For Yatra, Ebix was a life-preserver in the stormy Indian traveltech space. With their merger terminated, both companies face tough times ahead

Vandana, 8 Jun 2020

The Ebix-Yatra deal, the final frontier for Ebix’s corporate travel ambitions in India, has been terminated

While it queers the pitch for the survival of Yatra, India's second largest OTA, it has also raised questions over EbixCash’s future

Ebix’s spree of Indian acquisitions has not been integrated well, leading to inefficiency. Now, Covid is hurting its core offerings—forex, remittances and travel

With EbixCash's business struggling, Ebix’s shareholders are concerned about its $713.9 million mountain of debt

At an Ebix management meet hosted by Robin Raina in October, online travel aggregator (OTA) Yatra was the toast of the town. Indeed, at an event that saw the who’s who of politics, media, Bollywood, and sports turn up, Yatra’s entire top brass was front and centre. Raina, the founder and CEO of Ebix, a US-based software company, proudly introduced Yatra as part of the “Ebix family”, according to a source who attended the event.

Five months on from welcoming Yatra into the fold, Yatra is out of the family. Ebix’s attempts to acquire it in a $337.8 million deal have flamed out in spectacular fashion.

AUTHOR

Vandana

Vandana is based in Delhi. She covers vertically focussed startups in consumer internet space and also writes on travel tech and smartphones for The Ken. She has spent 13 years in journalism covering a wide range of subjects- equity markets, mutual funds to education and skilling, working at organisations such as Business Standard, CNBC TV18 and The Week in the past.

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