Macquarie slashes Byju’s valuation by 98% after Julius Baer protest
economictimes.indiatimes.comMacquarie Capital is writing down nearly its entire investment in Indian startup Byju’s, weeks after Swiss bank Julius Baer Group Ltd. accused it of charging fees based on an outsized and outdated valuation, according to people familiar with the matter.
The unit of Australia’s Macquarie Group Ltd. is cutting the value of its stake in the beleaguered education provider by about 98%, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. Macquarie Capital invested a few hundred millions of dollars in Byju’s in 2021, said the people.
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Offering CollegeCourseWebsiteIIT DelhiIITD Certificate Programme in Data Science & Machine LearningVisitIIM LucknowIIML Executive Programme in FinTech, Banking & Applied Risk ManagementVisitIIM KozhikodeIIMK Advanced Data Science For ManagersVisitThe move comes after Julius Baer Chief Investment Officer Yves Bonzon sent a letter to Macquarie Capital in January, saying the firm was too slow to revalue the stake and provide information. Bonzon said Macquarie Capital continued to charge clients based on a 2022 funding round that valued Byju’s at $22 billion, even after other investors marked down their valuations by as much as 95%, according to the letter seen by Bloomberg.
Julius Baer’s clients invested via a feeder fund into a Macquarie vehicle that held the Byju’s stake.
Julius Baer declined to comment. A Macquarie spokesperson said the information was “incomplete and not up to date,” without elaborating.
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