Incidentally, Byju’s too sent a notice to Aakash’s promoters recently. It has asked the promoters to honour the agreement to close the acquisition of the coaching centre that was first announced in 2021. It is not clear so far if Byju’s too has sent a legal notice to Aakash.
Aakash promoters have said no to share swap
Sources close to the matter told ET that the equity-swap part of the Byju’s-Aakash deal is still pending. Aakash’s promoters, the Chaudhry family and investment fund Blackstone informed the edtech major recently on the breach of terms and that they will not go ahead with the pending share swap. Sources claimed that there are tax implications to the equity swap because of which the promoters of Aakash have opposed completing the share swap.
The resistance from Aakash promoters on equity swap comes at a time when Byju’s is facing increased pressure to furnish audited FY22 financials. Key investor Blackrock has also marked down its valuation to about $8.4 billion from the peak valuation of $22 billion last year. Some media reports also claim that Manipal Group chairman Ranjan Pai is in early discussions to invest in troubled Aakash.
Aakash’s promoters and Blackstone hold about 30% in the offline coaching centre unit. The deal constituted 70% cash while the remaining 30% was in equity. As a part of the equity swap, Aakash promoters and Blackstone were allocated a stake in Byju’s parent firm Think & Learn.
