After Viacom18, Bodhi Tree to invest $600 mn in ALLEN Career

Bodhi Tree Systems, a platform of James Murdoch's Lupa Systems and Uday Shankar, has announced a $600 million investment in ALLEN Career Institute (ALLEN), a premier coaching institute for competitive exams in the country. The investment comes in just five days after Bodhi Tree announced a ₹13,500 crore investment in Reliance Industries’ broadcasting business Viacom18 to form one of the largest TV and digital streaming companies in India.

The transaction with ALLEN is expected to close within three months and is subject to closing conditions and requisite approvals, a joint statement said.

With the new investment, ALLEN will scale itself up by leveraging technology and improving learning outcomes for students, the statement said. "ALLEN's partnership with Bodhi Tree will build further on the test-prep offering and deliver at-scale positive impact for millions of students in test-prep and K12 segments, using technology as the core driver of value."

The acquisition also marks a consolidation in the physical exams coaching space. A year back in April 2021, India's biggest ed-tech startup Byju's had invested $950 million in Aakash Educational Services Ltd, which is one of the biggest buyouts by an Indian startup.

ALLEN has a pan-India footprint, with a growing presence in the Middle East, via 138 classroom centres in 46 cities. One of the investors in Bodhi Tree is the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).

Bodhi Tree Systems, founded in 2021, is a newly formed platform between Lupa Systems founder and CEO James Murdoch and Uday Shankar, the former president of The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific and former chairman of Star and Disney India.

"Education is a critical consumer need, driven by its deeply transformative impact on lives and livelihoods of consumers," a joint statement by Murdoch and Shankar said, adding that ALLEN's success and scale will provide the base to build the digital education company of the future.

ALLEN was founded by Rajesh Maheshwari in 1988, and trains aspirants for engineering and medical college entrance exams like IIT-JEE Mains & Advanced, NEET-UG, KVPY, and the Olympiads.

As per ALLEN senior-most director Govind Maheshwari, the decision to partner with Bodhi Tree will help further enhance ALLEN's reach.ALLEN's director Naveen Maheshwari thinks the partnership will take the institute to a very wide student community, which can't connect with ALLEN due to physical constraints.

Cyril Mangaldas provided legal advisory and documentation support to ALLEN, while EY provided due diligence services to Bodhi Tree and AZB & Partners were the legal advisors.

Murdoch and Uday Shankar's venture had earlier announced an investment of ₹13,500 cr in RIL's Viacom18, one of India’s fastest-growing entertainment networks that own and operates the suite of Colors TV channels and OTT platform, VOOT.