VCCircle

This is probably the first publicly known investment by Pulak Prasad's Nalanda Capital Pte Ltd. The $400-million Singapore-headquartered private equity fund, which has a mandate to invest only in publicly listed companies, has picked up a 14.9 per cent stake in the Jaipur-based Vaibhav Gems Ltd. The investment is in the form of Global Depository receipts (9.9 per cent), and an additional 5 per cent stake is bought through warrants. The total transaction size, if warrants are exercised, will be about $35 million.
Nalanda Capital Founder and Manager Pulak Prasad will represent the firm on the VGL Board. Prasad was earlier managing director in private equity firm Warburg Pincus's Mumbai office. He, along with colleague Rajesh Khanna, was credited for leading investments in Bharti Airtel, which gave a 6X return for the PE fund.
Interestingly, Vaibhav had received an investment of Rs 207 crore from Warburg Pincus in December 2005. Warburg then owned a 27 per cent economic interest in the company. It seems Nalanda and Warburg will work together on deals.

VC Circle was first to report about the float of Nalanda Capital by Pulak Prasad back in March 2007. The firm had closed the fund at $400 million in late May 2007.
Vaibhav claims to be the largest exporter of coloured gemstones from India and one of the largest exporters of studded jewelry. It has offices and distribution outlets in in New York, London, Austin, Germany, Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Thailand. In 2005, VGL acquired New York-based STS Jewels and its subsidiaries. Sunil Agrawal is the chairman of Vaibhav Gems.

Related:
Warburg Pincus Picks Up 27 Per Cent Stake In Vaibhav Gems For Rs 207 Crore