Never mind the recession, Ebix Inc. wants to make deals. That’s been good news for Ebix’s corporate lawyers at Carlton Fields.
On Monday, the Atlanta company announced it had reached an agreement to acquire ConfirmNet Corp. of San Diego for $7.4 million in cash, plus future cash considerations, according to a regulatory filing. ConfirmNet is involved in the certificate of insurance creation and tracking industry.
ConfirmNet is Ebix’s sixth acquisition, or offer to acquire a company, in the past 12 months. Atlanta-based Ebix makes software for the insurance industry.
Not all of Ebix’s deals have gone swimmingly, however.
Ebix has been engaged in a bidding war with a California company to acquire health-insurance software maker Healthaxis Inc. of Irving, Texas. Ebix made its first bid for Healthaxis in September, offering $6.8 million in cash and stock. That offer was accompanied by a “guaranteed downside price cover,” in which Healthaxis shareholders could sell the stock back to Ebix “for the price at which they received it” for a period of a 
year, according to a regulatory filing. Healthaxis rejected the offer, preferring to stick with its existing agreement to sell itself to BPO Management Services Inc. of Anaheim Hills, Calif.
Ebix has since made two additional, higher offers, the last coming on Oct. 27. Healthaxis rejected both of those too. Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell partner John McKnight in Dallas has been advising Healthaxis.
Other Ebix deals in the past year include its merger in Nov. 2007 with Jenquest Inc.; its acquisition of Telstra eBusiness Services of Australia in January; its purchase of Periculum Services Group in April; and its August acquisition of Acclamation Systems Inc.
Carlton Fields partner Rick Denmon in Tampa and associate Charles M. “Chip” Harrell Jr. [photo, left] in Atlanta were the primary corporate advisers to Ebix on the offer for Healthaxis, said Wayne Shortridge, managing partner of the law firm’s Atlanta office. Although he’s an associate, Harrell has developed Ebix as a Carlton Fields client, Shortridge said. Carlton Fields also advised Ebix on some of the prior transactions, including the Acclamation Systems and Jenquest deals.