France-based Teleperformance Business Services has withdrawn its bankruptcy petition against Think & Learn, the parent company of edtech giant Byju’s. The petition, originally filed at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Bengaluru, has been retracted, sources close to the matter revealed on June 26, as per a CNBC-TV18 report.
On June 24, Dutch investment firm Prosus significantly reduced its valuation of Byju’s, marking a steep decline from the company’s peak valuation. Prosus, which holds a 9.6 per cent stake in Byju’s, wrote down its investment of $578 million, valuing the edtech firm at less than $3 billion – an 86 per cent decrease from its highest valuation.
Livemint could not independently verify this news development.
This devaluation came amidst broader financial troubles for Byju’s. The company has been grappling with investor disputes, including a contentious $200 million rights issue. Prosus, along with three other investors, approached the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to challenge Byju’s management and this rights issue.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has repeatedly urged the company to resolve its dispute with Teleperformance within a week. The tribunal cautioned that if no settlement was reached by the deadline, it would proceed to hear the case on its merits and issue a ruling accordingly, as per various media reports.
On February 7, the NCLT served notice to the edtech firm regarding an insolvency petition filed by Teleperformance. Until mid-2022, the company had utilised outsourcing services from providers such as Teleperformance, Cogent E Services, and iEnergizer. These firms supplied call centre agents to the tech company, which later discontinued its contracts with Teleperformance and Cogent E in an effort to reduce expenses as it faced mounting challenges, as per media reports.
Teleperformance initiated a service agreement in April 2022 and subsequently issued over 20 invoices totalling more than ₹40 million between March and August 2023. These invoices remained unpaid, and the edtech company neither contested the claims nor denied defaulting on the payments.
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Published: 26 Jun 2024, 01:11 PM IST