Byju’s to clear $180 million Blackstone dues for Akash deal by September-end
- ByStartupStory | August 24, 2022
According to reports, India’s edtech giant BYJU’S will pay $180 million as to the debts owed to Blackstone, an alternative investment management company that invested in offline test prep chain Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL).
The edtech company has already paid Blackstone about $220 million, with another $180 million still outstanding. When BYJU’S acquired Aakash in April of last year for roughly a billion dollars, the US-based PE firm was expected to get $400 Mn overall.
In order to merge AESL with BYJU’S parent business Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd., the edtech company has also submitted paperwork to the National Company Law Tribunal.
Blackstone is also allegedly expecting to gain about a 1% interest in BYJU’S following the deal. It should be mentioned that Blackstone invested in the June 2021 funding round for BYJU’S, making it one of the edtech’s investors as well. BYJU’S has already received almost $2.2 billion in three loan and equity rounds, raising its valuation to $23 billion and making it the most valuable company in India.
The edtech company raised $800 million in March, but according to Karti Chidambaram, a Lok Sabha member and the son of former finance minister P Chidambaram, INR 2,500 crore went missing. Karti Chidambaram wrote to the Special Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) last month to report this.
Furthermore, it is worth noting that He also requested an investigation of the company’s finances from the SFIO, claiming that the late reporting of the financials was an “obvious infringement” of Rule 6(5) of the Companies (Cost Records and Audit) Rules, 2014. The Bangalore based edtech still hasn’t been able to complete its financials after months of conjecture.
In their most recent financial report for FY20, BYJU’S declared a net profit of INR 51 Cr and revenues of INR 2,434 Cr.
Follow Startup Story
Related Posts
