Edtech major Byju’s had, over a call on August 14, updated more than 100 investor representatives on the progress related to audited results, term loan B negotiations, refinancing of debt, and other issues, according to sources.
This comes at a time when the company is grappling with issues stemming from the delay in filing its audited results, missed deadline to rework loan terms, and an ongoing fundraising process.
CEO Byju Raveendran and CFO Ajay Goel addressed the investors. The company’s newly appointed advisory council members, Mohandas Pai and Rajnish Kumar, were also present.
“It was a reassuring call, and everyone is confident and bullish on the company,” said the source.
Investor representatives fromGeneral Atlantic, Peak XV Partners, Prosus, and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, among others, were on call.
The discussions with the term loan B steering committee are ongoing. Byju’s and the creditors missed the August 3 deadline to rework the terms of the loans. The company had raised $1.2 billion via term loan B in November 2021 from a clutch of overseas investors. The edtech firm skipped its $40-million loan repayment on June 5 this year and later sued its lenders, alleging predatory tactics.
A Delaware court in the US ruled in favour of Byju’s as it denied a request by the term loan B lenders to investigate a $500-million transfer from a US-based subsidiary, Byju’s Alpha, to other entities.
The company is also negotiating with investor David Kempner, which lent Byju’s $250 million in structured instruments, linked with future cash flows of Aakash Educational Services, in May. However, less than half of the fund was released as some loan agreement covenants were not met.
Byju’s is now exploring a fundraising for Aakash Educational Services from sources that include one of its earliest backers, Manipal Group Chairman Dr Ranjan Pai. Raveendran, who holds a 30 per cent stake in Aakash, is expected to partially offload his stake to Pai, Businessline has reported.
Byju’s has also roped in Richard Lobo, former head of HR at Infosys, as an exclusive advisor to help transform its HR function.