Source: Byju's has paid ~$234M to Blackstone for ~38% shares in Aakash, settling all its dues owed to the PE firm as part of a ~$1B deal from April 2021
Byju's has cleared all its dues to Blackstone by paying $234 million it owed the global investment giant for the $1 billion acquisition of Aakash …
Context & Ripple Effects
In April 2021, Byju's bought Aakash Educational Services and its 200+ physical coaching centers for close to $1B in cash and equity, with Blackstone holding a large slice of the consideration. This report closes that loop: ~$234M paid for the ~38% share settles every due owed to the PE firm.
At the time it read as routine housekeeping near the top of the market — months later Byju's was still raising at the $22B valuation it held through 2022 ahead of a planned Aakash IPO. Read against what followed — a $1.2B loan default, plans to sell Epic and Great Learning, and a rights issue pricing the company down 99% — this was one of the last obligations Byju's settled cleanly before the unwind began.
First-order effects
- Blackstone receives full cash settlement for its ~38% Aakash consideration, converting its position in the April 2021 deal into paid-out proceeds rather than long-dated Byju's exposure.
- Byju's retires the largest legacy liability from its biggest acquisition while still commanding its $22B valuation.
Second-order effects
- A clean ownership picture on Aakash underpinned the subsidiary's IPO path that Byju's was courting investors around in mid-2023.
- Once the $1.2B loan default hit, settled counterparties like Blackstone were already made whole — leaving unsold acquisitions such as Epic ($500M) and Great Learning ($600M) as the currency for debt settlement instead.
Third-order effects
- The arc from this settlement to the rights issue that cut Byju's valuation by 99% to $20M-$25M sketches how 2021-vintage edtech rollups unwind: cash out strategic shareholders early, sell acquired brands under creditor pressure, and reprice founder equity last.
- Aakash's physical coaching-center network emerges as the durable asset in the portfolio — the piece that survives the selloff of everything acquired around it.
The trend: Peak-2021 edtech acquisitions are unwinding in sequence — dues settled, subsidiaries listed or sold, equity repriced — with Aakash positioned as the last major asset standing.