The Chaudhary family, founders of the Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL), which started the immensely successful IIT-JEE entrance exam tutorial chain, is in talks with private equity (PE) firms to sell its residual stake in the chain. PE firm Blackstone is also a part of these talks.
Together, the Chaudhary family and Blackstone own a residual stake of 18 per cent in the tutoring chain. The other 82 per cent of Aakash is collectively owned by Think & Learn, Ranjan Pai, and Byju Raveendran.
A media note released today said: “With Deepak Mehrotra joining as CEO recently, he will lead AESL’s strategic vision to enhance its offerings, expand its reach, and positively impact the tutorial market. The move by the two shareholders to exit the company comes at a time when it is entering the new academic year with robust student enlisting.”
The note added, citing sources, “that the exiting shareholders would want to capitalise on this growth story”.
“Blackstone and Chaudharys are exploring a sale to private equity investors keen to get a foothold in the company, which is currently a subsidiary of Think & Learn Private Ltd. Media reports in the recent past have suggested that AESL could be a potential M&A target, with investors including Bain Capital, Warburg Pincus and KKR circling it,” said the note.
It added: “The jewel crown of Think & Learn, AESL’s profits rose 82 per cent to INR 79.5 crore and reported a 45 per cent rise in revenue to INR 1,421 crore in 2021-22.”
