Ebix Files For Bankruptcy After Short-Seller Attacks

Insurance software firm Ebix Inc., targeted by short sellers, has filed for bankruptcy after struggling to recover from high interest rates and looming debt payments.

Publicly-traded Ebix is the parent company of Indian fintech firm EbixCash, facilitating payments, foreign exchange, and prepaid gift cards. I Photo: Ebix

The Johns Creek, Georgia-based firm, as reported by Advait Palepu, Amelia Pollard, and Jonathan Randles for Bloomberg News, listed assets and liabilities of at least $500 million each in a Chapter 11 petition filed in Texas.

The filing provides protection to the company from creditors while it seeks court approval of a plan to repay them.

Publicly-traded Ebix is the parent company of Indian fintech firm EbixCash, facilitating payments, foreign exchange, and prepaid gift cards. The bankruptcy filing excludes the company's nearly 200 affiliates outside the US, according to a statement.

In bankruptcy, the company plans to sell its North American life insurance and annuity assets to help pay off its debt. Insurance firm Zinnia, backed by Todd Boehly’s Eldridge Industries, will start the auction with a $400 million opening bid.

Ebix and its advisers will conduct a comprehensive marketing and sale process for the company's assets. Rising interest rates and the impending maturity of approximately $617 million in loans were cited by Ebix as reasons for its bankruptcy.

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