3i returns £659m for 2015 financial year

The group's full-year report shows an improvement on last year's returns of around 3.3 percentage points, up from a £478m return in 2014, representing a 16.3% total ROI for the group.

Despite having made a series of strong exits and only a handful of new investments, the value of 3i's portfolio grew by more than £300m – from £3.56bn in 2013/14 to £3.87bn in the 12 months to 31 March 2015.

Proceeds from asset realisations grew from £677m last year to £841m, buoyed by a string of exits by the group combined with a more cautious investment strategy, which resulted in four new deals worth £369m.

In Q1 2015 alone, 3i made £76m on the IPO of Finnish-Swedish infrastructure network services company Eltel, sold French World Freight Company International in a deal valued at a reported €120-130m, and pulled in €35m in the IPO of Dutch botting business Refresco Gerber.

The group's debt management division saw substantial growth in 2015 as well, having held a first close or its European Middle Market Loan Fund, and raising its assets under management to £2.4bn.

In line with the group's overall return, the infrastructure division also posted a 20% gross investment return, supported by a 25% total shareholder return from the listed 3i Infrastructure business in which 3i Group has a 46% stake.

Total assets under management grew by more than £0.5bn to £13.47bn, compared to £12.91bn in 2014. Three-quarters of the AUM come from third parties, a one percentage point increase from last year.

In the 12 months to 31 March 2015 3i's total fee income was largely unchanged, bringing in a marginally lower £125m compared with £127m the previous year.

A final dividend of 14 pence per share was outlined in the full-year report, which would bring the total dividend for the financial year to 20 pence per share.

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