The troubled EdTech start-up BYJU’S had two American firms it owned that were sold off by lenders suing the company over the repayment of a term loan worth USD 1.2 billion.
These firms, Tynker and Epic!, had been acquired by the former EdTech giant during its stint in the American market. They were sold at a massive haircut in a bid to settle accounts, Inc42 reports.
Tynker was purchased for USD 2.2 million in cash by CodeHS, a computer science learning platform. This represents nearly a 99 per cent reduction from the USD 200 million paid by BYJU’S when it acquired the coding platform in 2021.
Similarly, Epic! was purchased for USD 95 million by Chinese education company TAL Education Group at a massive 81 per cent discount. BYJU'S paid USD 500 million to acquire Epic! in 2021.
These acquisitions were approved on May 20 by Judge Brendan Shannon in a United States bankruptcy court hearing, according to an EdWeek Brief Market report. As a result, these fire sales were also part of these bankruptcy proceedings.
BYJU'S Alpha, a bankrupt US-based subsidiary of the EdTech giant, had failed to repay a USD 1.2 billion term loan backed by 37 financial institutions.
Due to mounting losses and a freefall in income, BYJU'S was unable to repay its loans, and its US lenders took the company to court. Furthermore, it was discovered that BYJU'S fraudulently transferred USD 533 million to Camshaft Fund using the term loan.
In March, a US bankruptcy court decided in favour of BYJU'S lenders in the aforementioned lawsuit.
BYJU'S is also insolvent in India, with Riju Raveendran, the brother of BYJU'S founders Byju Raveendran and the former director of the EdTech, filing a petition with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to have its US-based lenders removed from the creditors' committee.
