BYJU’S To Clear $180 Mn Dues To Blackstone By September-End: Report

Edtech major BYJU’S is reportedly set to clear the $180 Mn dues to alternative investment management firm Blackstone, which was one of the investors in Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL), the offline test prep chain.

A Mint report citing sources said that the Byju Raveendran-led edtech has already paid around $220 Mn to Blackstone and $180 Mn is now pending. In all, the US-based PE firm was set to receive $400 Mn when BYJU’S acquired Aakash in April last year for almost a billion dollars.

The edtech company has also filed papers before the National Company Law Tribunal to merge AESL with BYJU’S parent company Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd.

After the merger goes through, Blackstone is also reportedly set to receive around a 1% stake in BYJU’S. It should be noted that Blackstone is also an investor in BYJU’S as it participated in the edtech’s June 2021 funding round. Since then, BYJU’S has raised around $2.2 Bn in three debt and equity rounds, taking its valuation to $23 Bn and making it India’s most valuable startup.

Interestingly, it was reported in June that BYJU’S will be closing the Aakash deal by August 2022, deferring payments once again. The edtech major had done so previously as well, primarily due to intervention from the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

It was also earlier reported that BYJU’S had closed the Aakash deal in July itself after it confirmed that a majority of the $800 Mn fundraise has been received. It seems that Blackstone was the only investor that had its payment deferred to September.

Karti Chidambaram, Lok Sabha MP and the son of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram wrote to the Special Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) last month, claiming that INR 2,500 Cr is missing from the edtech’s $800 Mn fundraise in March. 

He also called the late filing of the financials a ‘clear violation’ of Rule 6(5) of the Companies (Cost Records and Audit) Rules, 2014 and asked the SFIO for a probe into the company’s financials. Even after months of speculation, the edtech major has not been able to finalise its financials. 

Last week, it was widely reported that BYJU’S auditor Deloitte had filed the report and the edtech company was expected to release the same within a week. However, the week’s deadline has again run its course and it remains to be seen when BYJU’S will release its financial statements. 

BYJU’S last financials were released for FY20 when it made a net profit of INR 51 Cr and reported a revenue of INR 2,434 Cr.