Byju's to Sell Foreign Businesses to Pay Off Debt
Ed-tech giant eyes USD 800-1 billion from Great Learning, Epic sales
According to a person familiar with the situation, ed-tech giant Byjus is trying to sell its foreign businesses Epic and Great Learning in order to pay back its whole USD 1.2 billion (Rs 9,956 crore) debt to lenders.
According to the source, the ed-tech decacorn has been in talks with the lenders and has presented a plan to pay off its Term B debt.
Byju's expects to make between USD 800 million and USD 1 billion through the sales of Great Learning, an upskilling platform, and Epic, a US-based kids learning company.
The company is attempting to raise more funds via stock sales and is negotiating with bankers to sell the aforementioned major assets to strategic investors, which has generated interest, according to the source.
The ed-tech platform did not respond to an email seeking feedback.
The firm with the highest valuation in India hopes to pay down the whole USD 1.2 billion term loan B (TLB) in less than six months. It is recommending paying back $300 million of this over the next three months.
The idea has not yet received a response from lenders.
Through a term loan facility (TLB), Byju's acquired USD 1.2 billion in debt in November 2021 from a collection of foreign investors. A senior secured syndicated credit facility known as a TLB is offered by international institutional investors. The funds from a TLB are often used to repay an existing debt or to undertake international acquisitions to expand a company's product offerings.
In 2021, Byju's purchased Aakash for USD 950 million.
The steering group of ad hoc term loan lenders reportedly decided to modify the USD 1.2 billion term loan in July of this year.
The change occurred as a result of the departure of investors Russell Dreisenstock of Prosus, G V Ravishankar of Sequoia Capital (now Peak XV Partners), Vivian Wu of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and ex-Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai from the advisory council.
In May 2022, Byjus had purchased Epic in a cash and equity transaction for USD 500 million.
