BENGALURU: Edtech major Byju’s has settled its long-standing dispute with investment management firm Davidson Kempner. The family office of Ranjan Pai, Manipal Education and Medical Group Chairman, has invested Rs 1,400 crore in edtech firm’s subsidiary Aakash Education Services to clear its debt to Davidson Kempner.
With this, the US lender exits Byju’s. Hedge fund Davidson Kempner and Byju’s was in the middle of a battle with the $250 million loan dispute. In June, the investment management firm said it would not be disbursing the whole loan amount and provided less than half of the amount it had offered due to the crisis in Byju’s.
Sources also said Pai might invest further in Aakash and that he will also get two board seats at Aakash. It is said of the Rs 1,400 crore, Rs 800 crore is the loan amount and the remaining is interest. Also, promoter of tuition chain Aakash Chaudhry is likely to return as its CEO. Both Byju’s and Davidson Kempner didn’t comment on this. Byju’s acquired tuition chain Aakash Educational Services for about $950 million in April 2021. It also announced that it will launch the initial public offering (IPO) of Aakash in mid-2024.
The board of the edtech company had granted its official sanction for this IPO. “The upcoming IPO will provide a significant capital infusion to bolster Aakash’s infrastructure, broaden its reach, and extend high-quality test-prep education to a larger number of students across the nation,” the company had said.
Meanwhile, a US court has ruled in favour of Byju’s lenders, who have provided $1.2 billion Term loan B to the edtech firm, by approving their move to remove Riju Raveendran, brother of Byju Raveendran and replacing him with their representative.
The edtech firm has been trying hard to repay the term loan B by selling its assets. The company is in advanced talks to sell its US-based digital reading platform Epic for about $400 million. In September this newspaper reported that Byju’s will repay the $1.2 billion term loan B by selling Great Learning and Epic, which were acquired in 2021.
Pai invests Rs 1,400 crore
The family office of Ranjan Pai, Manipal Education and Medical Group Chairman, has invested Rs 1,400 crore in edtech firm’s subsidiary Aakash Education Services to clear its debt to Davidson Kempner. With this, the US lender exits Byju’s.