US lenders drag Byju’s to bankruptcy court in India

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

bankruptcy court in India to initiate insolvency proceedings against Byju’s, exacerbating the challenges for a company which is desperately scouting for funds to keep operations running amid a slowdown in the edtech sector and regulatory scrutiny.

The lenders have been in negotiation with the company over prepayment of a $1.2 billion term loan taken by its US subsidiary, Byju's Alpha, even as the two sides also continued to fight a legal battle in US courts.

Elevate Your Tech Prowess with High-Value Skill Courses

They filed the insolvency application against Think & Learn Pvt Ltd, Byju’s parent company, before the Bengaluru bench of the National Company Law Tribunal earlier this week. They claimed that the company had defaulted on loan payment.

It wasn’t immediately known whether the NCLT, the dedicated bankruptcy court, had taken up the case.

“This action was taken following over 16 months of good faith efforts on behalf of the ad hoc group to restructure the term loans, which, if successful, would have immediately solved for the loan’s numerous outstanding defaults, acceleration, and ended all open litigation while avoiding further enforcement actions,” the lender group said in a news release Thursday.

This group of lenders claims to collectively own more than 85% of the $1.2 billion term loan.

Byju’s in a media statement said the lenders’ move was premature and the allegations were baseless.

“The timing of these proceedings is also conspicuous as it coincides with