Investors of the embattled edtech major Byju’s have filed plea with Supreme Court with the request to be heard before the Court decides on a plea likely to be filed against a National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) order.
The investors — Peak XV Partners Investments, Sofina SA General Atlantic Singapore TL Pte Ltd, MIH Edtech Investments BV — have filed separate caveats at the top court.
This comes at a time when, on February 28, the Bengaluru bench of NCLT had directed Byju’s to keep the proceeds from the rights issue in a separate account till the disposal of the oppression and mismanagement plea filed by the company’s investors. It had also asked the edtech major to consider extending the closure of the rights issue.
“A period of two weeks is granted to the authorities for filing reply from the date of receipt of copy of the notice and two weeks thereafter for filing response/rejoinder, if any, thereto from the date of receipt of copy of reply is granted. List the case for further hearing on 04.04.2024,” directed the tribunal.
At the NCLT, the investors alleged that they were being forced to participate, as their shareholding would be reduced if they did not participate in the rights issue.
In an extraordinary general meeting (EGM), the investors voted to oust chief executive officer (CEO) Byju Raveendran from the company and the change of the board, which currently includes his wife and co-founder Divya Gokulnath and his brother Riju Raveendran.
Recently, the company delayed salary payments to its employees again. In a letter to employees, Co-Founder and CEO Byju Raveendran said that the company would not be able to pay the salaries for February because of a few investors.
Other NCLT cases
Recently, the NCLT also asked the edtech major to respond to insolvency petitions filed by US lenders and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
The NCLT bench has given Think & Learn, Byju’s parent company, three weeks to file its objections to the insolvency petition filed by Glas Trust Company LLC, the administrative agent appointed by the TLB lenders to its US subsidiary Alpha Inc. It has also asked Glas Trust Company LLC to issue a notice to Byju’s for payment defaults of the loan that it had guaranteed along with a copy of the petition it filed in the bankruptcy court.