bengaluru usbased software firm ebix has reached an agreement under which it will acquire online travel portal yatra for 239 million in an allstock deal the move comes four months after the nasdaqlisted companies had said that they are exploring a deal yatra will continue to be operated as an independent platform according to its cofounder and ceo dhruv shringi the deal gives yatra an enterprise value of 338 million which includes debt and working capital requirements shares of yatra climbed over 11 to 432 giving it a market capitalisation of 196 million even as the ebix share fell by 64 to 45 after the deal was announced ebix has a market capitalisation of 14 billion the shareswap pegs the value of ebix shares at 4905 and yatras at 49 the acquisition process which started in march will be formally closed after full approval of shareholders which may take another four to six months some of the largest shareholders in yatra include reliance industriesowned network18 which owns 706 and anil ambanicontrolled reliance capital which has 843 the other major shareholders include macquarie group and rotation capital both of whom hold 15 each yatra cofounder dhruv shringhi and coo sharat dhall hold a 377 stake we are confident that combining yatras loyal customer base comprehensive service offering and multichannel platform with ebixs complementary via and mercury businesses will create a leading online travel platform and indias largest corporate travel platform said shringhi serving corporates is the main business for yatra where it now has 800 clients the deal will help ebix in its existing travel business which also includes forexin fact ebix has now made over 18 acquisitions across travel payments remittance and foreign exchange segments this is in line with the companys broader plan to build a financial and insurance exchange that will offer fullstack solutions we are excited by the crossselling opportunities that this combination provides us while further strengthening our future ebixcash ipo offering said ebix chairman president and ceo robin raina the combined company will have an international footprint with more than 11000 employees and a travel expanse spanning across the globe the transaction also provides the necessary scale to extend its travel business to north america latin america and europe