Cash strapped Cox and Kings sells its corporate travel business to EbixCash

Cash strapped Cox and Kings has sold its corporate travel business to on-Demand software and E-commerce services Ebix inc’s Indian subsidiary, EbixCash.

On Friday, the company announced that the company “has signed an agreement with Cox and Kings to transfer its Business Travel agreements with corporates in India, to EbixCash’s corporate “Mercury” Travel Division.” for an undisclosed sum. 

The travel company informed the exchanges that International Air Transport Association (IATA) had terminated its license to the Company for selling tickets and has asked the Company to surrender IATA ID Card. D T S & Associates, Statutory Auditor of the Company, have tendered their resignation as the Statutory Auditors of the Company, with immediate effect.

Also read: Cox & Kings unable to declare Q1 results

The firm has been facing a liquidity crunch for the past few months. On three different occasions, it had defaulted Rs 30 crore, Rs 10 crore, Rs 174 crore and Rs 45 crore worth commercial papers respectively. 

In August, Cox and Kings said it was unable to declare quarter results for the quarter ended June 30. The travel company said that as it was in the midst of finalising a resolution plan to resurrect the company, they needed the time to declare the results.

The company also got a 180-day breather from lenders to finalise a resolution plan.

Also read: US-based Ebix buys online travel portal Yatra.com

In the previous quarter, EbixCash had also acquired Yatra online. EbixCash said that each of the transferred corporate clients of Cox and Kings will now be serviced by EbixCash’s Mercury Division across of the country. Ebix however said that under the agreement some key core employees of Cox and Kings will also be transferred to the EbixCash payroll with immediate effect. 

Naveen Kundu , Managing Director – Mercury Division of EbixCash said “We are simply transferring the corporate agreements of Cox and Kings to ensure that the customers continue to be well serviced and looked after. Our vast experience, success record in the corporate travel business will be key in servicing the corporates and they shall benefit from our bouquet of travel and technology products.”