Zinnia Gets Court Approval to Buy AnnuityNet's Parent

Zinnia — a big financial technology firm with support from a large investment firm — has received bankruptcy court approval to buy the life and annuity assets of Ebix.

The best known Ebix life and annuity asset is AnnuityNet, an an annuity distribution system that competes with Roper Technologies’ iPipeline system and Hexure’s FireLight system for annuity orders.

AnnuityNet was created in 1997 by a group of insurance companies and investment firms.

Ash Sawhney, the president of the Ebix Insurance Solutions North America unit, plans to move to Zinnia with the Ebix life and annuity operations. He said the Zinnia acquisition is a great outcome for those operations.

“Zinnia has a clear vision for the future,” Sawhney said.

What it means: The systems you use to offer clients life insurance policies and annuities could have more features and work better.

Zinnia: Zinnia is a Greenwich, Connecticut-based technology company that once was known as SE2. It was formed from the technology services support arm of Security Benefit with backing from Eldridge, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based investment company that also owns businesses like Dick Clark Productions, Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter.