Ebix, Inc. a leading international supplier of On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries,has announced that one of its Indian subsidiaries has signed agreements to acquire Mumbai based Mercury Travels and Delhi based Leisure Corp for a cumulative amount of approximately $14.2 million, with the goal of creating a new Travel Division to focus on a niche segment of the travel market.
The new Travel Exchange named Mercury – An EbixCash Luxury initiative, will focus on the luxury, events and sports related traveler and will be led by the Leisure Corp Founder Naveen Kundu. The Mercury Exchange will have the following three tightly integrated components –
- Mercury Travel’s entire corporate, leisure & adventure related travel business with the exception of its Forex business
- Leisure Corp’s entire sports and events related travel business (MICE)
- Via.com’s events based travel business (MICE)
Naveen Kundu will hold 15% shareholding in this new Mercury initiative, while Ebix will have a controlling 85% share in the venture. Mercury’s Forex business will be integrated into EbixCash’s existing CDL Forex exchange business.
The acquisition of Mercury and Leisure Corp will increase the employee strength of Ebix in India by around 400 employees to approximately 7,600 employees. With the creation of this new luxury Mercury Division, Ebix will now have two brands in travel focused on different niche audiences – Via and Mercury.
