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Shreedhar Manek

Based in Bangalore, Shreedhar is a Staff Writer for The Ken. He writes on technology, education, human resources and urban mobility. He has a BTech in Computer Science and an MS in Urban Sociology from IIIT Hyderabad.

22 Articles published

Top Comments by Shreedhar Manek

The Adani Group repaid its loans against promoters’ shares. But the disclosures don't add up

Good digging, I was wondering about not seeing the disclosures as well. Though I expected more clarity at the end of this quarter, after the Group filed its Q4 financials. What is the authors' thesis about what actually happened with the $2bn? It was only a partial repayment as a direct result of margin calls and not a complete repayment as indicated? Also, another concerning event in this saga is that SBI had initially misled the public about not having exposure to Adani shares, even though it later emerged that they did! Of course, there was no clarification. (Edited to remove link to external site)

Shreedhar Manek

Talks like an IIM, walks like an edtech: what exactly is Masters’ Union?

The way I'm reading this is: 1) They attracted some prominent names as "Masters" 2) On the basis of those prominent names + some online marketing, they got through to potential IIM-level students 3) Those students then went on to have good placements. On the backs of which they got more students in successive batches. I understand how point 3) would come about. If Masters Union manages to get good placements, that makes things easier. But how did they achieve points 1) and 2)? How did they attract big names? How did they ensure that those big names reached the ears of potential students? How did they ensure that they didn't come off as a scam (or just another edtech?). Any insights?

Shreedhar Manek

The invisible hand behind startups' crazy valuation run

The biggest takeaway from this piece is that the valuation exercise is redundant and "valuers" as a profession should not exist. The companies are selling, VC and PE investors are buying -- who's anyone else to comment on what price they both agree upon? As for retail investors, apart from having a bright red "THIS IS AN EXPENSIVE STOCK, INVEST WITH CAUTION" what else is one to do? But then again most retail investors can put at most Rs 15,000 or so to buy one lot in an IPO that is seeing demand.. it's not a lot. PS - some of the spacing between paragraphs is messed up, do fix (see the para before and after "Indeed, different VC and PE")

Shreedhar Manek

A $4.7B exit wound: why Prosus pulled the plug on buying BillDesk

All in all, this is what happened, if I'm not wrong: 1. They did a deal. Market was buoyant. Price seemed fine. 2. Market fell. Buyer wasn't so happy anymore. 3. They had a deadline to close the deal. This wasn't met. 4. Buyer has all the right to get out of the deal, but Billdesk can say that it was the buyer who delayed the deal in the first place. Which opens room for litigation. 5. Litigation is obviously expensive, and very annoying in India. Billdesk is private, there was no public shareholder money. Proving PayU delayed *intentionally* is not easy. Bottom line, there's little chance of a favourable outcome post litigation. Great insights but the story should really have been shorter!

Shreedhar Manek

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