The Maheshwari family-owned Allen Career Institute is arguably India’s largest coaching institute, preparing students for entrance exams in multiple streams.
“Bodhi Tree and the Maheswari family have reached an agreement. The family is looking to expand the brand in the digital space and is aligned with Uday’s vision to scale Allen into a world-class digital education business future,” said one person with direct knowledge of the deal.
This would be Bodhi Tree’s second big bet since it was formed as a 51:49 JV between Shankar, the former president of The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific and former chairman of Star and Disney India, and Murdoch’s Lupa Systems.
Last week, Bodhi Tree entered into an agreement with Reliance Industries to invest Rs 13,500 crore in Viacom18, a 51:49 joint venture between Reliance Industries-owned TV18 and Paramount Global (formerly known as ViacomCBS).
“Since he left Disney in late 2020 and joined his former boss James, Uday has been looking out for big opportunities, with potential to scale up. He was never interested in small acquisitions and asked for deals worth at least a billion dollars,” said one investment banker.
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While forming Bodhi Tree, both the partners had said that Bodhi Tree will explore acquisition opportunities in the healthcare, education, consumer technology and media & entertainment industries in India, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
“Education is a critical consumer need, driven by its deeply transformative impact on lives and livelihoods of consumers,” Murdoch and Shankar said in a statement. “We believe that education is on the cusp of a technology led renaissance that will fundamentally alter how education is imparted and will increase its efficacy. Allen’s unrivalled success and scale provide the right foundation to build the digital education company of the future,”
EY acted as the exclusive financial advisor for the deal and provided due diligence services to Bodhi Tree.
Media owners and executives are closely watching Shankar’s moves given that he has made several market changing bets over his long career.
“He likes to take bold decisions and the agreement with Reliance is largely a bet on the IPL (Indian Premier League) media rights. It will be interesting to see how Uday can make money this time around given how many deep-pocketed major players are now looking at the IPL property and also the aggressive bid price demanded by the BCCI. But given the size of the bet, it’s right up Uday’s alley,” said a media executive who has worked closely with Shankar.
It is learnt that Bodhi Tree will be raising close to $2 billion over the next few months to fund both the deals.
The company has already secured a commitment of $1.5 billion from the sovereign fund Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) to invest in media and consumer technology opportunities in Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on India.
Betting on a leader in coaching
Founded on April 18, 1988, by Rajesh Maheshwari with just eight students, Allen institute now has coaching centres across 45 cities in India, including in Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Bhubaneshwar, Bhopal, Gwalior, Chandigarh, and Indore.
Allen is run by four brothers- Govind, Rajesh, Naveen and Brajesh Maheshwari, and is named in the memory of their father late Laxmi Narayan (LN) Maheshwari.
“Our decision to enter into this strategic partnership with Bodhi Tree is founded on shared values, principles and an aligned vision of creating societal impact at scale through education globally,” said director Govind Maheshwari.
Rajesh Maheshwari added, “Our partnership with Bodhi Tree is an essential ingredient in furthering our mission to significantly increase ALLEN’s reach and impact. We are quite pleased and excited that the Bodhi Tree team also sees value in combining their expertise with our experience in Education.”
Brajesh Maheshwari has been designated as the chairman of the new board.
The transaction is expected to close within three months and is subject to closing conditions and requisite approvals.
