Centrum: Forex biz sold for Rs 1,200 crore

Nasdaq-listed Ebix has over 50 offices across five continents and offers on-demand software and e-commerce services to insurance, financial and healthcare industries. 

As part of the deal, the entire Centrum Direct team and assets will be transferred to Ebix and will become a part of EbixCash, an end-to-end financial exchange, the Jaspal Bindra-led firm said. 

The deal, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, is expected to be closed in 60 days. 

It can be noted that in 2017, Centrum had divested 18.5 per cent of its stake in Centrum Direct to a group of private equity investors including Jacob Ballas, New York Life and Evolvence. Citybased Centrum Direct, which handled transactions worth Rs 10,000 crore in FY18, has a customer base of over 3 mn and offers services like sale and purchase of forex overseas remittances. 

It operates 165 outlets in 55 cities and is the largest airport forex player with a presence in 24 domestic airports.