Ybrant Digital, a Hyderabad-based provider of digital marketing solutions, will be acquiring the three internet brands of Experian Interactive Media (EIM), which is currently one of the top five internet advertisers in the US, for a consideration of $175 million (approximately Rs 930 crore).
EIM’s three internet brands – comparison shopping engine PriceGrabber.com that powers Yahoo! and MSN Shopping, free online service LowerMyBills.com that allows consumers to compare rates on various ‘fixed cost’ items such as mortgage, auto insurance and health insurance, and online higher education portal ClassUSA.com – will add a business of $283 million (around Rs 1,500 crore), an employee strength of over 300, and the entire management team, to Ybrant.
“Of the total purchase price, $100 million will be in cash, which ICICI and Credit Suisse have already agreed to sanction as loan. The remaining $75 million will be through a seller note as a short-term arrangement of two to three years,” Ybrant Digital’s chairman and managing director Suresh Reddy told mediapersons here on Thursday.
The deal is yet to be closed, and is subject to Ybrant getting listed through its merger with Hyderabad-based, publicly-listed IT implementation and outsourcing services provider LGS Global Limited, which it acquired in August last year.
Stating that the merged entity, Ybrant Digital Limited, is likely to be traded shortly on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the Madras Stock Exchange, Reddy said the listed company would go in for instruments like qualified institutional placement (QIP) and foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) later this year to clear the bank loans. “Plans are in place to go for an overseas listing ... at a later point,” he said.
This is the eighth acquisition for Ybrant in the last eight years and its second successful foray into acquiring premium destination sites.