Pulak Prasad-led Nalanda Capital has upped its holding in engineering firm Kirloskar Oil Engines to 5.72%. It bought around 4.9 million shares, out of which more than half came through a bulk deal with Sundaram BNP Paribas midcap fund. It is estimated that Nalanda would have paid around Rs 38 crore for picking these shares translating into a deal worth $8 million.
Nalanda India Fund had been holding 3.16% in Kirloskar Oil Engines before this deal was struck. It is not clear when did the fund pick this stake and at what price. At current market price this stake is valued at Rs 85 crore ($18 million).
Kirloskar Oil Engines which manufactures diesel engines, irrigation pumpsets, diesel generating sets, engine bearings and valves besides grey iron castings. It had revenues of Rs 2,211.7 crore($470 million) with net profit of Rs 118.95 crore($25.3 million) during FY08.
Nalanda Capital, started by Prasad in 2007, is a Singapore-headquartered private equity fund with a $400 million corpus. Its mandate is to invest only in publicly-listed companies.
Earlier, Nalanda Capital had picked up a 5% stake in Chennai-based Carborundum Universal for Rs 65 crore through a bulk deal with Merrill Lynch. Its other investments include Jaipur-based jewellery maker Vaibhav Gems, US-listed BPO firm WNS (Holdings).
Besides Nalanda, ChrysCapital has also been picking up shares in public market. It has been buying up stakes in Gammon India, Ahmednagar Forgings, Amtek India and Amtek Auto, besides Infosys and HCL Technologies.