Byju's Seeking to Raise Capital by Sale of Great Learning and Epic Platforms
According to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter, Indian education giant Byju's is looking to sell two companies it acquired in 2021 - Great Learning and Epic - to raise up to $1 billion in order to streamline its businesses and repay lenders.
Byju's, which was valued at $22 billion last year, has gone through a series of business crises, including the resignation of its auditor and board members, and has been negotiating the repayment of a $1.2 billion loan in recent months.
Byju's, which is backed by investors such as General Atlantic, Prosus, and Silver Lake, may also sell more assets in the future to fundraise, according to both sources.
While Epic is a reading platform based in the United States that Byju purchased for $500 million, Great Learning is an Indian company that provides upskilling courses and degrees that Byju purchased for $600 million.
According to the second source, Byju's has received term sheets to sell Epic, but the source did not specify from whom. According to the first source, Byju's plans to sell the two companies to private equity investors in addition to other education companies.
Three of Byju's investor board members resigned without explanation in June, leaving only company executives on the board. The same day, its auditor Deloitte resigned in the middle of its audit, citing a "significant impact" on its ability to perform the audit in accordance with necessary standards following the company's "long-delayed" financial statements.