Byjus proposes sale of overseas units to repay USD 1.2 bn loan

PTI, Sep 11, 2023, 7:04 PM IST

New Delhi: Ed-tech titan Byjus is looking to sell its overseas ventures Epic and Great Learning to pay back its entire USD 1.2 billion (Rs 9,956 crore) loan to lenders, a source familiar with the matter said.

The ed-tech decacorn has been in discussions with the lenders and has made a proposal to clear its Term B loan, the source said.
Byju’s hopes to garner between USD 800 million to USD 1 billion from the sale of Epic, the US-based kids learning firm, and Great Learning – the upskilling platform.

The firm is also working on raising fresh capital from equity sales, and is working with bankers for the sale of the aforementioned key assets to strategic investors — which has also garnered interest, the source said.

An email sent to the ed-tech platform for comments remained unanswered.

India’s most-valued startup is hoping to repay the entire USD 1.2 billion term loan B (TLB) in under six months. Of this, it is proposing to repay USD 300 million in the next three months.

Lenders have not yet responded to the proposal.

Byju’s in November 2021 raised USD 1.2 billion in debt through a term loan facility (TLB) from a group of overseas investors. A TLB is a type of senior secured syndicated credit facility that is issued by global institutional investors. Typically, the proceeds from a TLB are used to either refinance an existing debt or to make overseas acquisitions in order to enhance a company’s offerings.

Byju’s had acquired Aakash USD 950 million in 2021.

In July this year, the steering committee of ad hoc term loan lenders is reported to have agreed to amend the USD 1.2 billion term loan.

The development comes after the company formed an advisory council with ex-Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai and Bharatpe Chairman and former SBI chief Rajnish Kumar after the exit of investors G V Ravishankar of Sequoia Capital (now Peak XV Partners), Vivian Wu of Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and Russell Dreisenstock of Prosus.

Byjus had acquired Epic in a USD 500 million cash-and-stock deal in May 2022.