Founder of Manipal Hospitals Group, Ranjan Pai has offered a Rs 300 crore financial facility to Think & Learn Pvt. Ltd, Byju's parent, as part of a broader transaction that is expected to facilitate a partial exit for the Chaudhry family from Aakash Educational Services Ltd.
If things go according to plan, Pai’s total investment in the group might reach $300 million, people of the knowledge told Mint. The short-term financing will help plug Byju’s working capital and cash flow requirements.
Pai’s investment in the group will largely help repay a loan taken by the group from US-based investor Davidson Kempner at onerous terms against the cash flows of Aakash Educational Services. This will potentially resolve a thorny issue for the company.
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The transaction will also see Aakash's founding family swap a part of their Aakash shares into Think & Learn.
The Chaudhry family agreed to sell Aakash to Byju’s in January 2021 for over $950 million in cash and shares. But the share swap never happened for two years.
One part of the settlement could see a part of Chaudhry’s shares being swapped with Think & Learn, which could potentially take the company’s stake in Aakash to over 51 per cent.
Byju’s is due to present its financial results for 2021-22 next week.
Byju’s has also moved to settle an outstanding $1.2 billion loan which it raised from overseas lenders in November 2021. To help with the repayment, it is working on the sale of two assets, Epic and Great Learning, Mint reported in September.
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