Ranjan Pai's family office buys out Davidson Kempner's debt in Byju's
₹1,400 crore, people familiar with the deal said. The deal closed on Friday, marking Davidson Kempner's exit from the firm. An entity owned by Pai bought all the non-convertible debentures (NCDs) of Davidson Kempner on NSE's Cbrics platform.
Byju's parent Think & Learn Pvt Ltd had secured a ₹2,000-crore loan from Davidson Kempner by pledging founder Byju Raveendran 's shares in Aakash Education Services Ltd. Davidson's issued the first tranche of ₹800 crore in May but did not release the remaining amount, claiming Byju's had breached covenants. This threatened founder Raveendran's hold on AESL.
Raveendran owned 27% of the company in his personal capacity and had pledged those shares to Davidson Kempner. They are now held by Ranjan Pai's family office. Pai and Davidson Kempner did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Byju's declined to comment. For Ranjan Pai, this is likely to be the first in a series of transactions involving AESL. He is also in talks to buy an additional stake in the company from private equity firm Blackstone Group.
The multi-pronged deal is expected to see AESL founder Aakash Chaudhry return to the company as chief executive. The Chaudhrys agreed to sell AESL to Byju’s for more than $950 million in cash and shares in January 2021. But the share swap didn't take place for two years, and following the parent company's struggles with lenders, auditors and investors, the Chaudhry family declined to swap their shares with it, Mint reported on August 1.
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