According to an Economic Times report, MEMG has emerged as a potential bidder for Think & Learn, the bankrupt parent of Byju’s.
Pai’s Manipal Education Group is currently the largest shareholder in Aakash Educational Services with around a 58% stake, the report added.
“MEMG will look at all possible assets it can. Currently, it’s just an expression of interest indicating that they intend to bid. However, the main asset is the 25% stake that Think & Learn holds in Aakash as of today,” the report quoted people familiar with the matter as saying.
Prospective buyers will be allowed to acquire Think & Learn entirely or certain assets of the company, including its Aakash shareholding and other businesses such as GeoGebra, WhiteHat Jr and Toppr. Inventory, receivables, furniture and fixtures, the Byju’s Learning app, and other intangible assets, as well as course content, are also up for sale, the report mentioned.
Shailendra Ajmera, Think & Learn’s resolution professional, has extended the deadline for expressions of interest (EoIs) to November 13, from September 24.
Ranjan Pai’s Recent Investments
Earlier in July, Manipal Hospitals said it signed definitive agreements to acquire Pune-based Sahyadri Hospitals for around ₹6,000 crore. In February, Pai’s investment office, Claypond Capital, also signed investment agreements with Akasa Air.
In its Series A funding round in 2024, KITES Senior Care, a leading provider of ‘out-of-hospital’ geriatric care services, secured an investment of ₹45 crore from MEMG Family Office Fund.
Three Indian family offices – Pai’s MEMG Family Office, along with Harsh Mariwala’s Sharrp Ventures, and Hemendra Kothari’s DSP family office – had purchased a combined ₹435 crore stake in FirstCry from SoftBank.
According to a 2023 report in NDTV Profit, MEMG has bought about ₹250 crore worth of stake.
In November 2023, MEMG bought out the debt investment of Davidson Kempner in Byju’s subsidiary Aakash for ₹1,400 crore.
High-value Real Estate Investments
Ranjan Pai and his family have also made a string of high-value real estate purchases in Bengaluru, often through his investment firm, Esencia Partners.
In September this year, Pai’s firm, Esencia Partners, acquired a 25,824 sqft property in Bengaluru’s prime Lavelle Road for ₹165.6 crore. Previously owned by Australian national Mira Angeline Cummins, the property consists of two existing buildings, each measuring approximately 3,339.9 sqft, according to a Hindustan Times report.
Before this, his wife and the founder and director of Sagework Design, Shruti Pai, purchased a luxury duplex apartment in a boutique condominium complex in Bengaluru for ₹64 crore. The 12,800 square foot apartment is set across two storeys of the Savyasachi Sarayu project in the Jayamahal Extension area.
In March 2018, Ranjan Pai, along with former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai and group corporate affairs advisor Abhay Jain, acquired a minority stake in a Bengaluru-based real estate development firm, Maia Estates LLP, according to a report in Mint.