Blackstone, GIC, Fidelity help Byju’s double term loan target to $1 billion
BENGALURU: Indian online education provider Byju’s received strong demand for its term loan from global investors including Blackstone, Fidelity and GIC, according to people involved in the deal.
The Bangalore-headquartered startup, India’s top unicorn with a market value of $16.5 billion, is more than doubling the targeted size of its term loan B to $1.2 billion from the $500 million it had previously sought. The board of Byju’s parent, Think & Learn Pvt, approved the size and terms of the loan in a meeting on Sunday, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the information hasn’t been made public. It is being priced at 550 points over Libor, according to the person.
In a filing, the company has disclosed it will utilise this money for general corporate purposes.
TLB refers to a tranche of senior secured syndicated credit facilities from global institutional investors.
The company was able to upsize the term loan following strong demand across all investor segments including sovereign wealth funds and “real money” investors, said Madhur Agarwal, managing director at JPMorgan Chase & Co., one of the deal’s bookrunners. “At final size of $1.2 billion, it is one of the largest unrated TLB offering ever from any new-age economy company worldwide,” Agarwal said in an email.
Byju’s, Blackstone, Fidelity and GIC did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
Byju’s provides K-12 lessons and video material to millions of Indians studying for the country’s competitive engineering and medical entrance exams.
The startup also provides one-to-one coding, math and reading classes and material to students in countries in North America, the Middle East and Latin America.
The startup is still on track to seek a public listing in 2022 following the loan, one of the people said.
Large Indian startups are starting to explore term loan Bs—tranches of senior secured credit raised from institutional investors—as a new means to fundraising. In July this year, affordable hotel stays platform OYO Hotels raised $660 million through a similar loan.
Conventionally, TLB proceeds are used either to refinance the existing debts by a company or to make overseas acquisitions with an aim to enhance their offerings.
Morgan Stanley was the bookrunner for the offering alongside JPMorgan.