Britain's oldest private-equity firm, 3i, stepped up its turnaround programme last year, revealing today it had banked £669 million from disposals.
The owner of fashion firm Hobbs also completed the takeover of Barclays’ £780 million infrastructure fund management business in the year ending March 31 and said it had stripped out £70 million in costs.
The group highlighted the performance of Dutch discount retailer Action, which it values at £501 million and plans to roll out across Europe. 3i shares rose almost 5% to 398p as its net asset value per share hit 348p, compared with 311p the year before when it was being stalked by corporate raider Ed Bramson.
chief executive Simon Borrows said: “3i is now a more streamlined, decisive organisation focussed on high performance and delivering attractive shareholder returns. We have ambitious plans for all our businesses.”
