Byju’s to sell Epic, Great Learning to repay 1.2bnloan

Byju's has put up kids' reading platform Epic and higher education platform Great Learning for sale, three people aware of the development said, as the edtech giant tries to raise money and pay off a $1.2 billion loan it raised in November 2021.

- Ranjani Raghavan, Sneha Shah

The sale will also help Think & Learn Pvt. Ltd, which runs Byju's, weed out businesses that it does not consider central to its long-term goals, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. The two assets may together fetch Byju's around $800 million to $1 billion, which will be used to advance the repayment of its outstanding term loan B (TLB), one of the two people cited above said.

Byju's had paid around $800 million to acquire Epic! Creations Inc., and Great Learning Education Pte. in a mix of equity and cash at the peak of the startup boom in 2021.

The cost excludes milestone based payments, which have not borne out.

"It (Byju's) also won't be a Mongol empire anymore. It won't be a large and unwieldy group," the person cited above said.