Ranjan Pai buys out Davidson Kempner’s debt in Byju’s

BENGALURU: Edtech major Byju’s has settled its dispute with Davidson Kempner with the family office of Manipal Education and Medical Group chairman Ranjan Pai acquiring the hedge fund’s debt in Byju’s subsidiary Aakash Education for Rs 1,400 crore.

With this, Davidson Kempner exits Byju’s and brings to a close its dispute with Byju’s over a $250 million loan. In June, the investment management firm said it would not be disbursing the whole loan amount and  provided less than half of the amount due to the crisis in Byju’s.

Sources also said that Pai might invest further in Aakash.

Niether Byju’s nor Davidson Kempner commented on this.

Byju’s acquired tuition chain Aakash Educational Services for about $950 million in April 2021. It also announced that it will launch the initial public offering (IPO) of Aakash in mid 2024.

The board of the edtech company had granted its official sanction for this IPO. “The upcoming IPO will provide a significant capital infusion to bolster Aakash’s infrastructure, broaden its reach, and extend high-quality test-prep education to a larger number of students across the nation,” the company had said.