Bodhi Tree Systems, the newly formed platform backed by James Murdoch and former broadcast executive Uday Shankar, has agreed to invest $600 million in test prep business Allen Career Institute, in the platform’s second major investment in a week. Bodhi Tree has acquired a minority stake in Allen, valuing the test prep business at well above $1 billion, according to a person with knowledge of the deal. Allen’s founding Maheshwari family will retain control and run the business, the person said.
The investment valued the test prep company at over $1 billion, the person said. The deal is expected to close in three months after regulatory approvals. “Education is a critical consumer need, driven by its deeply transformative impact on lives and livelihoods of consumers”, Murdoch and Shankar said in a joint statement. “We believe that education is on the cusp of a technology-led renaissance that will fundamentally alter how education is imparted and increase its efficacy.”
The investment will help scale Allen’s Indian operations through technology and expand its base in the Middle East, said Keshav Maheshwari, a member of the Maheshwari Family that founded Allen Career Institute.
On 27 January, it led a ₹13,500 crore ($1.76 billion) investment for a 40% stake in Reliance-backed Viacom18.
EY acted as the exclusive financial adviser. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas provided legal advisory and documentation support to Allen, while AZB & Partners were the legal advisers to Bodhi Tree.
Earlier in February, Bodhi Tree Systems secured a $1.5 billion investment from Qatar’s sovereign fund Qatar Investment Authority.
The platform, established in 2021 by Murdoch’s Lupa Systems and Shankar, makes strategic investments in consumer technology across South and Southeast Asia and the Middle East, with a particular focus on India.
Bodhi Tree expects to invest in consumer technology sectors that represent significant opportunities but “suffer from a lack of capital and innovation”, including media, healthcare and education, the company said.
