As per a latest exclusive by The Morning Next, New York-based Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP has accused India’s edtech unicorn Byju’s of financial misconduct. The American investment firm has reportedly taken control of Aakash Educational Services Ltd from the beleaguered behemoth of Indian edtech. Everyone from the board, including the CEO, and CFO of Aakash have resigned except for Byju Raveendran considering that Byju’s misused the money from the loan allocated for Aakash.
Speaking of which, a Byju’s spokesperson discredited the allegations,
“This is completely incorrect. There is no allegation of financial misconduct, and DK has not taken over the company. We have noted certain fictional allegations and request you to refrain from writing the same.” said a Byju’s spokesperson
The parent entity of Byju’s Think & Learn Pvt. Ltd. acquired Aakash in 2021 from Blackstone and the JC Chaudhary Family for a cash and stock deal of nearly $1 billion. Though Byju’s delayed the payment against the acquisition, the founder Byju Raveendran paid the sum from his personal company based in Singapore.
It is worth noting that Byju’s raised INR 300 crore in unsecured loans from AESL in October 2022. And in 2023, Byju’s raised INR 2,000 crore from David Kemper for AESL. The edtech behemoth also revealed its plans to take AESL public by 2023 but things didn’t turn out well.
