Edtech major BYJU’s is set to pay the remaining amount of nearly Rs 2,000 crore to VC firm Blackstone in the $1 billion acquisition of Aakash Educational Services on September 23.
According to BYJU’s financial report FY21, “as per the terms of the agreement for the acquisition of Aakash Educational Services, consideration to the extent of Rs 1,983 crore was due to be paid by the company to the sellers in June 2022. This has been deferred to September 23, 2022”.
Blackstone has nearly 38 percent stake in Aakash and BYJU’s has paid nearly 75 percent of the Aakash acquisition amount.
Meanwhile, BYJU’s is likely to raise over $500 million (nearly Rs 3,900 crore) at a valuation of around $23 billion soon, and the funds may be utilized to pay the remaining amount in the Aakash deal.
In its FY21, BYJU’s registered Rs 2,428 crore as revenue over a massive loss of Rs 4,500 crore.
According to the company, the rationalized growth between FY21 and FY20 is a result of the changes made in the way BYJU’S recognizes its revenue, “as advised by its auditors”.
According to legal experts, If BYJU does not pay Aakash by September 23, the edtech major will need to knock at the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) doors for completing the transaction.
BYJU did not comment on the development.
Last month, BYJU’s said it had closed the $1 billion acquisition of offline test preparatory services provider Aakash, one of the largest deals in the edtech space.
The company had said in a statement that its payments to Aakash are “closed”.
