Byju’s Receives Commitment Of $300 Million For Its Rights Issue

The media report cited sources and said that the edtech has proposed to investors upset with the firm’s functioning that they can select two independent directors to help boost the transparency

Byju’s operator, Think and Learn, received a commitment of $300 million from investors, media agencies reported citing sources in the know. The edtech firm reportedly got the inflow for its current rights issue anticipated to close by the end of the month.

Earlier last month, Byju’s floated a rights issue to collect $200 million and valued its company in the price range of $200-$250 million. This valuation was a decline of 99 per cent from its peak valuation of $22 billion. The PTI report cited the sources and said that the edtech has proposed to investors upset with the firm’s functioning that they can select two independent directors to help boost the transparency, however, it has asked the investors to hold on for this approval till the rights issue is completed and it announces its financial results for the 2022-23 fiscal year. 

The report cited a source and said, “BYJU'S has received a total commitment of around $300 million for the rights as on date. Some investors have also suggested increasing the rights issue size but the priority for the company is to close the existing issue successfully.”

The source further informed that negotiations between the firm and the upset investors are going on for including them in the rights issue. “The company expects that they will also invest, otherwise their shareholding will reduce by almost 50 per cent,” the source added.

The report quoted another source and noted that the Indian edtech start-up has proposed the choice of appointing two independent directors on the company’s board in front of the investors. The decision has been taken to increase the transparency in the firm, however, the edtech maintained that the changes can only be made after it releases the financial results for FY23. 

“BYJU'S expects to close the FY2023 financial result in this quarter which will make the company completely compliant with the rules. Thereafter, the company will look to appoint two independent directors to its board. The proposal is part of ongoing discussion with miffed investors who have called for EGM (Extraordinary General Meeting) on February 23,” the source stated.

A source informed that the notice for the EGM is backed by investors like Peak XV, Sofina, Chan Zuckerberg, Owl, General Atlantic, and Sands, who collectively own about 30 per cent share in the edtech company. The Dutch investment company, Prosus, led the investors and urged for a solution regarding the ongoing governance, financial mismanagement, and compliance issues in the notice. The investors also sought a reconstitution of the company’s board of directors. 

The notice reportedly mentioned that a group of the company’s shareholders sought a meeting of the board earlier in July and December, however, this request was disregarded. Notably, the investors hold no voting rights on the CEO or any management change according to the shareholder agreement.