SEPTEMBER 12, 2023
Indian ed-tech giant Byju’s is aiming for a surprise move to get over the rough patch and debt headache it has been facing for months. The Byju Raveendran-led decacorn is looking to offload two foreign companies it bought for around Rs 8,195 crore combined in order to repay the entire $1.2 billion (Rs 9,956 crore) loan to US lenders, as per latest reports citing sources familiar with the matter.
Byju’s acquired Epic, a digital reading platform for children, for $500 million (around Rs 3,729.8 crore). It had acquired upskilling platform Great Learning for $600 million (around Rs 4,466 crore). It is now looking to raise between $800 million to $1 billion from the sale of both Epic and Great Learning.
Sources have claimed ed-tech decacorn has presented the surprise proposal for repayment of the Term B loan to lenders and is in talks with them. Meanwhile, Byju’s is also trying to get in fresh funds from equity sales. The company is working with bankers to sell the two key assets to strategic investors, they added. Byju’s is yet to respond to the media reports regarding this development.
Byju’s had taken a $1.2 billion term loan facility (TLB) from a group of overseas investors in November 2021. A TLB is a type of secured syndicated credit facility issued by global institutional investors. Proceeds from such a loan are typically used in either refinancing an existing debt or to make overseas acquisitions to expand the offerings of a company.
Byju’s is reportedly aiming to repay the entire $1.2 billion TLB under six months. As per its reported proposal, it if offering to pay up $300 million in the next three months. Response on the proposal is awaited from Byju’s lenders.
