Grapevine: Byju’s rakes in $700 mn at flat valuation; Megha Engineering concludes Lanco Anpara deal

By Shubhobrota Dev Roy

  • 04 Apr 2023
Credit: 123RF.com

Edtech major Byju’s has raised $700 million at a flat valuation of $22 billion, involving two separate deals of equity and convertible notes, Financial Express reported, citing two people aware of the development.

Sources said that the fresh funding round was led by two West Asia-based sovereign wealth funds and large private equity firms. A few existing investors also participated in the round.

The fresh funding comes at a time when the company has been working around repayments of a large $1.2-billion term loan B (LTB) raise with a five-year tenure that it secured in November 2021.   

Mankind Pharma  

Pharmaceuticals giant Mankind Pharma Ltd is geared up for a widely anticipated IPO to raise around Rs 4,200-4,700 crore later this month, multiple industry sources with knowledge of the matter told Moneycontrol.

If plans fructify, this would be the biggest IPO in the segment since the Rs 6,480 crore IPO launched by Gland Pharma in November 2020.

The Delhi-based pharma major later filed its DRHP (draft red herring prospectus) with capital markets regulator Sebi in September 2022.

Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructures (MEIL) has completed the purchase of a 71% equity stake in the 1,200-MW Lanco Anpara Power plant more than six months after lenders declared it as the preferred bidder.

Megha transferred ₹830 crore to complete the deal last week, The Economic Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter said.

However, lenders led by IDBI Bank must still contend with some legal issues as about a 29% stake is held by Hyderabad-based iLabs Group, which got the equity as part of a resolution for another Lanco company.

Kirana tech startup 1K Kirana Bazaar has laid off around 40% of its workforce as it restructures its business and winds up operations in a few geographies.

Co-founder Kumar Sangeetesh, in a statement to Moneycontrol’s queries, said, “We are currently in the process of restructuring as our growth forecasts have changed. We are changing our focus areas and moving out of a few geographies. Due to this, we have to let go of 40% of our employees.” 

DealStreetAsia reported the layoffs first.

However, multiple sources privy to the matter told Moneycontrol that the number was at least over 60% of the workforce, or at least 600 employees.