Byju's accuses lenders of bogus claims

LENDERS TO EDTECH company Byju's created bogus default claims tied to a $1.2-billion loan as part of a scheme to gain control of the company, the company's lawyer told a judge.

- 

The distressed-debt lenders are "playing hardball" to create leverage in negotiations to restructure the loan and causing problems for Byju's executives, Sheron Korpus, a lawyer for the Bengaluru-based company, said at a hearing in state-court in Delaware Friday.

Lenders, including US investment including USfirms Redwood Investments and Silver Point Capital, are "making extortionate demands" of Byju's, putting the ed-tech firm "under a lot of pressure", Korpus told Delaware Chancery Court Judge Morgan Zurn. Byju's wants the judge to rebuff the lenders' default claims. Zurn said she will rule later on the case.

An attorney for the lenders Friday waved away Korpus' claims, noting Byju's had repeatedly violated the loan agreement's terms and acknowledged the defaults. Filing suit over the loans "is not predatory behaviour," Brock Czeschin, the creditors lawyer, told Zurn.