Blackstone group | Business Upturn

Blackstone to invest $250 in Simplilearn to acquire majority stake

Diya S. — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 07:21:49 +0000

According to Moneycontrol, US-based alternative investment management company Blackstone is set to acquire a majority stake in Simplilearn, a company that offers online education as well as post-graduate credits for professionals.

A leading online bootcamp for learning digital skills, Simplilearn is based in San Francisco and Bengaluru. Firms including Kalaari Capital, Helion Venture Capital and Mayfield Fund have invested in the company.

As said by one of the people familiar with the matter to Moneycontrol, “Blackstone will acquire a controlling stake in Simplilearn in a transaction which gives the combined firm an enterprise value of $350 million. An official announcement is expected shortly.”

A second person has told that the investors Kalaari Capital, Helion Ventures and Mayfield will be making a “complete exist” as a part of the agreement. However, the Founder and CEO Krishna Kumar would not quit.

Another individual added that in partnership with Blackstone, which has an enterprise in the field of educational technology (ed-tech), the CEO is aiming to develop the firm as the world’s largest digital skilling company.

Simplilearn responded to an e-mail query from Moneycontrol saying, “As we are one of the leading ed-tech players, there are always investment firms talking to us. However, if we close any transaction, we will definitely talk about it. Right now, we have no comment to share.”

As per the Times of India (TOI), Simplilearn would use these funds to expand into the US and Europe along with forming partnerships with global universities.

Aadhar Finance Ltd to raise $1 billion via IPO filling

Ushma Ghosh — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 05:14:33 +0000

Aadhar Housing Finance Limited, controlled by Blackstone Group Inc, one of India’s largest mortgage providers to low-income earners, plans to raise as much as $1 billion from the share sale. The Mumbai based company founded in 2010 plans to provide financial solutions to customers whose monthly income ranges between $76 to $765.

The filing for a Rs 7,300-crore IPO could be the largest public offer by a financial services firm after SBI Cards. It is planned to be done as early as Monday.

The company now has more than 294 branches and is planning to file a draft prospectus for its initial offering in India soon and to launch the offering in the first half of 2021, according to the sources.

The company had about 114 billion rupees ($1.6 billion) of assets under management in the latest financial year, about 14% higher than the previous year, its annual report said.

In 2019, Blackstone acquired a majority stake in the company and injected 8 billion rupees primary equity share to fund its growth. The private equity firm now has a 98.7% stake.

Byju’s to acquire Aakash Education Services Ltd for $1 billion

Sarthak Yadav — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 17:59:17 +0000

Byju’s which is tagged as India’s biggest online education startup is all set to acquire test prep leader Aakash Educational Services Ltd for $1 billion according to sources, as reported by Mint.

Mint reported that the deal will become the largest edtech acquisitions in the world and is said to close in the next two or three months, revealed the unidentified source.

Byju’s was founded by Byju Raveendran, a former teacher and the son of educators, who conceived the smartphone app in 2011. The Banglore based edtech giant is valued at $12 billion and has gained investors attention due to rise in demand of online lessons during the pandemic.

Byju’s is India’s second-most valuable startup is backed by the likes of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Tiger Global Management and Bond Capital, co-founded by Silicon Valley investor Mary Meeker.

Blackstone Group-backed Aakash Educational Services runs Aakash Institute, which has over 200 centers and tutors students to gain entry into the country’s elite engineering and medical schools.

Its student count is over 250,000, according to its website. While online learning startups have thrived, offline tutoring centers have been badly hit by the pandemic, which has closed schools and tutoring centers since March last year.

According to the terms of deal Aakash’s founders, the Chaudhry family, will exit completely, while Blackstone will swap a portion of its 37.5% equity in Aakash for Byju’s stake, as reported by Mint.