US bankruptcy filing: Ebix’s India business could change hands | India News

MUMBAI: EbixCash is likely to see a change in ownership after its US-based parent company Ebix Inc filed for bankruptcy. Ebix Inc. owns its Indian unit EbixCash through a holding company in Singapore.
Meanwhile, EbixCash said its operations in India are not affected by the Chapter 11 process that its parent company is conducting in the US.
“The Chapter 11 process only applies to Ebix companies in the U.S. and Ebix’s approximately 200 subsidiaries outside the U.S. are not included in the Chapter 11 filing,” the company said. The Chapter 11 process requires a separation between international and U.S. companies, the company added.
Ebix Inc had acquired a sizeable foreign exchange and prepaid card business in the country after buying Centrum Direct from Chandir Gidwani-promoted Centrum and Itz Cash from Ashok Goel’s Essel Group. Incidentally, Gidwani has shown interest in taking back the foreign exchange business.
Ebix’s Indian branches have an Authorization Dealer II license, apart from those for money transfer and prepaid issuers from RBI.
The company planned an IPO in which Ebix would repay Rs 335 crore to its parent company in the form of convertible debentures. In total, Ebix has invested nearly $800 million for its acquisitions in India, and its Indian operations owe the parent company around $617 million.
Ebix Cash India had plans to repay nearly $350 million through the proceeds of a proposed initial public offering valued at Rs 6,000 crore. Although the draft prospectus was submitted last year, the insolvency of the parent company would mean that the IPO will not take place in its current form. Given the insolvency of the parent company, the RBI will also restrict capital repatriation.

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