Delaware The Supreme Court of the US has said in its decision that the edtech company Byju’s has defaulted on repaying the loan. However, Byju’s has claimed that this decision of the US court will not have any effect on the legal proceedings going on in India. Byju’s US lenders said on Tuesday that the Supreme Court of Delaware upheld the decision of the ‘Delaware Court of Chancery’. The court said in its decision that there has been a default under the loan agreement and Byju’s lenders and their administrative agent Glass Trust have the right to take action against the company.
Byju’s had raised $1.2 billion
Byju’s, through its parent company Byju’s Alpha, had raised a $1.2 billion ‘Term Loan B’ (TLB) from US lenders. TLB is a debt issued by institutional investors. The lenders, through their administrative agent Glass Trust, filed a complaint in the Delaware Court of Chancery alleging default in payments under the loan agreement and demanded early payment of the $1.2 billion TLB.
Think and Learn had opposed the claim
Think and Learn (which owns Byju’s) had contested the claim, but the Delaware Court of Chancery had ruled in favour of the lenders. According to a statement by the steering committee of the ad hoc group of term loan lenders, Byju Raveendran, founder and CEO of Byju’s, and his brother Riju Raveendran have voluntarily admitted that Byju’s defaulted on the loan agreement due by October 2022.
US lenders file $1.5 billion claim in Indian courts
The committee said, “We are pleased that the Supreme Court of Delaware has conclusively confirmed what we already knew that Byju’s knowingly and voluntarily violated and failed to fulfill the loan agreement.” US-based lenders had filed a claim of US $ 1.35 billion in Indian courts during the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings against the company through Glass Trust. In the latest statement, the lenders had increased the amount of their claim to $ 1.5 billion.
