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Nalanda Capital picks up stake in MindTree

PATNA : Nalanda India Capital, a Singapore-based investment fund run by Pulak Prasad has bought more than seven lakh shares in IT services firm MindTree from Walden International.

The transaction, valued at Rs 15.6 crore, happened through the bulk deal route on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Tuesday. The deal translates to an almost 2% stake in the company.

With around 6,000 employees on its rolls, Mindtree is one of India’s most successful IT companies and has attracted funding from Walden International, e4e, Capital Group, Global Technology Ventures and Franklin Templeton, among others.

Nalanda Capital, which raised Rs 1,600 crore a couple of years back, seems to have a fetish for open market purchases and has previously bought shares in Mastek Global, Carborundrum Universal, Triveni Engineering, Kirloskar Engines and Sun TV through this route. 

Nalanda typically buys shares in multiple lots and takes 7-8% in any company it invests in. Going by this trend in its earlier investments, industry observers expect Nalanda to further hike its stake in MindTree.

Pulak Prasad, Nalanda Capital

In December last year, the Indian arm of Nalanda Capital picked up 1.78 percent stake in Kalanidhi Maran’s Tamil Nadu based Sun TV Network for around $22 million (Rs.101.5 crores).

Founded by former Warburg Pincus India head Pulak Prasad, Nalanda Capital has $400 million fund with a mandate to invest in listed Indian companies only. It was for the first time in India that a PE firm focused on the Indian market to formally state PIPEs (private investment in public enterprise) as its sole investment strategy. It has already picked up stakes in more than half a dozen listed companies such as Mastek, Triveni Engineering and Page Industries.  

In his earlier stint with Warburg Pincus as its joint managing director, Prasad had played a signal role in the leading the private equity firm’s $300-million investment in Bharti Televentures in 1998. 

Besides Sunil Mittal, Pulak a soldier’s son, is often called as the key person behind Bharti’s success.

40-year-old Pulak Prasad started life in a Hindi-medium school in Bihar, studied at IIT and cantered through IIM Ahmedabad, and was one of the first recruits of McKinsey & Co from its hallowed portals.

He also remains a director of Aryan Coal Benefications, Rediff, Sintex Industries, Radhakrishna Foodland , Venture Infotek, and BPO major WNS.

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