Stock of this e-learning firm has zoomed 113% from issue price in 3 weeks

Veranda Learning was locked at the upper circuit for the eight straight trading day, up 5 per cent at Rs 291.20 on the BSE, and had zoomed 70 per cent since April 20.

Shares of recently listed Veranda Learning Solutions were locked at the 5 per cent upper circuit at Rs 291.20 on the BSE on Monday in an otherwise weak market. Till 01:45 PM, around 69,000 equity shares had changed hands and there are pending buy orders for 402,221 shares on the NSE and BSE. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.50 per cent at 56,779.

The stock of the company which offers online and offline coaching services for a variety of courses was locked at the upper circuit for the eight straight trading day, having surged as much as 70 per cent from a level of Rs 171.55 on April 20, 2022. With the sharp surge in market price of the company, Veranda Learning has zoomed  a whopping 113 per cent when compared to its issue price of Rs 137 per share on the BSE. The company had made stock market debut on April 11, 2022.

On April 25, 2022, Veranda Learning signed a definitive agreement to acquire T.I.M.E. (Advanced Educational Activities Pvt Ltd) for a consideration of Rs 287 crore. The acquisition of T.I.M.E. allows Veranda to expand its national footprint with an asset that has known to have sent around 50 per cent of all students admitted into the IIMs.

"This 100 per cent acquisition will be in a phased manner with 80 per cent of the outstanding capital along with management control in phase 1, followed by the purchase of the remaining 20 per cent at the end of two years (subject to the fulfillment of closing conditions)," Veranda said in a press release.

T.I.M.E., which was one of the pioneers of online testing methodology in India, also gets to leverage Veranda's core-engineering skills to make it the best in hybrid offering which will now include best-in-class products for each of its programmes, the management said.

Veranda Learning Solutions offers a bouquet of training programs for competitive exam preparation, including State Public Service Commission, Banking, Insurance, Railways, IAS and CA, as well as a slew of professional skilling and upskilling programmes in trending technologies.

Veranda Learning Solutions had raised Rs 200 crore through initial public offering (IPO). It has proposed to utilize the net proceeds of the fresh issue towards repayment of its borrowings amounting to Rs 60 crore, payment of acquisition consideration of Edureka or repayment of bridge loan availed to discharge acquisition at Rs 25.19 crore, growth initiatives towards Rs 50 crore and the balance for general corporate purposes.