Private equity firms and foreign institutional investors attract a lot of admiration. Of late, several big boys from the institutional world have suffered heavy losses in their multi-million dollar investments.But what still remains a mystery in this saga is how Money Matters Finserv, with questionable pedigree, managed to attract a stupendous Rs445 crore from renowned institutional investors, just one month before its chairman, Rajesh Sharma, was under CBI investigation for brokering deals through political connections. Four FIIs-Morgan Stanley, Wellington, Fidelity and GMO-put in as much as 60% of the funds into the firm through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) in late October. Two years ago, New Silk's investment in high-profile 9X media group crashed and burned. The most recent instances are the exits of Warburg Pincus and ChrysCapital from auto components manufacturer Amtek India.Another PE firm, Citigroup Venture Capital International (CVCI), carved out an 11% loss when it cashed almost 7% of its 10.44% stake in Jindal Drilling recently. However, Warburg Pincus also made a terrible bet on Moser Baer. This was one stock about which the market was always sceptical. Its accounting was seen as unreliable, especially since CDs (compact discs) were hardly a high-margin business. Very few FIIs seriously bought this stock. Warburg Pincus was alone in keeping the faith for a very long time, which turned out to be misplaced. […]