Spice Money
Competitors
Ebix signs agreement to acquire Yatra
Publication- The Economic Times
Edition- Online
Date- 18 July, 2019
Ebix, the international supplier of on-demand software and e-commerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries, and Yatra Online announced today that that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Ebix will acquire Yatra via merger at an enterprise value of $337.8 million in an all stock deal. The companies said each ordinary share of Yatra (“Yatra Ordinary Share”) will be entitled to receive 0.005 shares of a new class of preferred stock of Ebix . Each share of Ebix Convertible Preferred Stock received for each Yatra Ordinary Share will, in turn, be convertible into 20 shares of common stock of Ebix. Ebix said based on the trailing 15-day volume weighted average price (“VWAP”) of Ebix Common Stock of $49.05 per share, each Yatra Ordinary Share convertible into Ebix Common Stock would be valued, on an as-converted basis, at $4.90 per share.
The companies said post adjustment for indebtedness, working capital, warrants to be converted and minimum cash requirement, the deal implies a net equity value of $239 million. Ebix will be issuing 243,747 convertible preferred stock, which in turn will be convertible into 4,874,931 shares of Ebix common stock. 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. Robin Raina, Ebix chairman, president and CEO said 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.
Please click on the link below:
Industry News
Innoviti sues Pine Labs, accuses it of infringing patent on UPI payments
Publication- Business Standard
Edition- Online
Date- 18 July, 2019
Payment technology firm Innoviti has sued digital retail payments company Pine Labs for infringement on its patent for technology enabling Unified Payments Interface (UPI) at point of sale terminals. The company said it has filed the suit for infringement against Noida-based Pine Labs before the City Civil Court, Bengaluru and has been granted an “ex-parte ad interim injunction” against Pine Labs with effect from July 16, 2019. This prevents Pine Labs from manufacturing, selling, distributing, exporting and dealing with this technology through its Plutus Smart or any other device in India, according to Innoviti.
“Pine Labs’ product infringes upon Innoviti’s technology,” said Rajeev Agrawal, chief executive at Innoviti. The Bengaluru-based firm is backed by marquee investors including Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy's Catamaran Ventures, SBI Ven Capital, Singapore and Bessemer Venture Partners, USA. “We were shocked to know about this when one of our employees alerted us about it this month after seeing the technology being used at one of the shops in Bengaluru,” added Agrawal.
Please click on the link below:
WhatsApp Pay launch in India imminent as Facebook readies for RBI compliance
Publication- The Financial Express
Edition- Online
Date- 18 July, 2019
Facebook Inc. is moving a step closer to launching its long-delayed WhatsApp payments service in India after wrapping up an audit of related data practices, according to people familiar with the matter. The payments offering has been in beta mode in India since early 2018 for a million users, but the nationwide debut has been delayed, in part because of government regulations. WhatsApp is required to show a third-party auditor that all data involved in payments will be stored on servers only in India. WhatsApp is preparing to submit the report for approval to India’s banking regulator, the Reserve Bank of India, said one of the people, asking not to be named as the matter is confidential.
WhatsApp is moving into a crowded and competitive field, where local startups and global players are already slugging it out. Amazon Pay and Paytm, the country’s most popular digital payments service, have already complied with the Reserve Bank’s data localization guidelines. India’s digital payments market is projected to grow five-fold and hit $1 trillion by 2023, according to a report by investment bank Credit Suisse Group AG.
Please click on the link below: