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Bodhi Tree Systems injects $600Mn into Allen Career Institute

Bodhi Tree Systems injects $600Mn into Allen Career Institute

Bodhi Tree Systems, a strategic investor in consumer tech opportunities, has acquired a minority stake in one of India's premier coaching institutes, Allen Career Institute by pouring $600 million.

This marks the second big investment by Bodhi Tree since it was formed as a 51:49 joint venture between James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems and Mr. Uday Shankar, the former Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific President and former chairman of Star and Disney India.

According to sources, the Maheshwari family-owned Allen is looking to expand its brand in the digital space and is now aligned with the vision of Uday Shankar to scale Allen into a leading digital education business future.

Not long back, Bodhi Tree inked a deal with Reliance Industries (RIL) to inject $1.76 billion (Rs 13,500 crore) in Viacom18, a 51:49 JV between RIL-owned TV18 and Paramount Global.

Sources state that ever since Mr. Shankar left Disney in late 2020, he has been looking out for big opportunities, with possible prospects to scale up. He never showed interest in small acquisitions and sought deals that were worth at least a billion dollars.

While forming Bodhi Tree, both Uday Shankar and James Murdoch sought to explore new acquisition opportunities in India’s education, healthcare, consumer technology and media & entertainment industries, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

In a joint statement, Murdoch and Shankar said that they believe that education is on the cusp of a technology-led renaissance that will alter how education is imparted and will boost its efficacy. Allen’s unique success and scale provide the right base to build the digital education company of the future.

The company has already bagged a $1.5 billion commitment from the sovereign fund QIA (Qatar Investment Authority) to invest in media and consumer tech opportunities in Southeast Asia, with key focus on India.

Source Credit: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/uday-shankar-and-james-murdochs-bodhi-tree-to-invest-600-million-in-allen-career-institute/articleshow/91236958.cms

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Meghna Singh

An English Literature graduate, Meghna Singh ventured into the profession of content development to incorporate her knack for writing articles across verticals including technology, healthcare, business, and alike for News Origins and Newsorigins. She has also completed her MBA in Tourism and worked as a content creator in the field of product development.