Being a listed private equity firm makes 3i Group a rare beast. In theory, it should mean that shareholders have access to some of the juicy returns available to investors in unlisted companies, along with their expertise in turnarounds and financial markets wizardry, often driven by high gearing.
3i is Britain’s oldest private equity group, tracing its roots back to 1945 and a £15 million fund, the Industrial and Commercial Financial Corporation, set up by the government to help small and mid-sized companies to emerge from the ravages of the Second World War and invest for the long term.
Having changed its name to Investors in Industry, it shortened it to 3i in the late 1980s before listing on the stock market in 1994 with