What a brilliant day it might have been for 3i to announce half-year results. The listed private equity group is, in some ways, the ultimate hedge against a chaotic Brexit. Its assets are overwhelmingly on the Continent. Britain has been dwindling in importance for years and now accounts for less than 10 per cent of private equity holdings. Alas, for 3i, its results were overshadowed by problems in two of its larger investments.
Action, a Dutch-based discount retailer, has been a phenonemal investment for the group, generating well over £2 billion of value since it was acquired in 2011. But there has been a wobble as it continues its galloping expansion into France, Germany, Poland and Austria. 3i revealed that it had postponed 20 new