Edtech Titan Byju's Make Surprise Proposal To Repay Entire $1.2 Billion Debt

In a surprise move, India's edtech giant, Byju's has made a proposal to its lenders to repay the entire $1.2 billion of its debt. The company plans to repay its obligations in less than six months. Bloomberg News reported that the lenders are reviewing the proposal and are seeking more details on how Byju's plans to fund the repayment.

Byju's raised approximately $1.2 billion through term loan B in November 2021 from a host of overseas investors. However, the company defaulted on a loan repayment of up to $40 million this year which led Byju's in a legal battle.

People familiar with the situation told Bloomberg News that Byju's has made a surprise repayment proposal to lenders, in which the firm has offered to pay back its entire $1.2 billion term loan in less than six months.

The sources added that Byju's is offering to repay $300 million of the distressed debt within three months if the amendment proposal is accepted and the remaining amount in the subsequent three months, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. They added that the lenders are reviewing the proposal and are seeking more details about how the repayment will be funded.

Byju's which was once India's most valuable at $22 billion, Byju's has been struggling to file its financial accounts on time, defaulted on dues payment, sparked a legal feud with lenders, and also facing a funding crunch. The company has also witnessed low demand in business.

Reuters said that Byju's declined to comment on the report. The company's total debt was not clear.

In May, it was known that investment firm BlackRock trimmed its valuation to $8.4 billion, later on, in June, the annual report stated that the Dutch-listed technology investor Prosus NV also reduced its valuation to $5.1 billion. By then, about a 75% drop was recorded in the valuation of $22 billion that was achieved last year.

Founded in 2011, BYJU'S is a global ed-tech company, that provides highly adaptive, engaging and effective learning solutions to more than 150 million students around the world. BYJU'S geography-agnostic solutions and 12,000+ teachers make learning engaging, with visual and contextual programs that adapt to the unique learning style, skill level and pace of each student.

BYJU'S is backed by blue-chip investors including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Sequoia Capital, Bond Capital, Silver Lake, BlackRock, Sands Capital Management, Alkeon Capital Management, Sofina, Verlinvest, Tencent, Prosus (previously Naspers Ventures), CPPIB, General Atlantic, Tiger Global, Qatar Investment Authority, Owl Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Times Internet, Aarin Capital and IFC, as per the LinkedIn.