3i toasts bumper Q4

In the final three months of last year, 3i saw an uptick in investment activity, deploying £247m from its balance sheet while third-party capital brought the total to £322m. Private equity transaction in Q4 comprised the £76m investment in Baltic Sea ferry operator Scandlines; a £63m investment in transmission testing specialist GIF; the £94m acquisition of discount gym operator Basic-Fit; and a £44m investment in US-based management consultancy JMJ.

The listed firm made realisations worth £29m, which represent a slowdown on Q4 2012, when it reaped £50m. The sale of Bestinvest, which was sold to Permira in November, and the divestment of Spanish IT consultancy Everis did not complete in Q4, but are expected to generate proceeds of £53m.

Looking at the firm's portfolio, clothing retailer Hobbs saw its value reduced by £14m. According to 3i, this was because of trading weakness in Q4 2013.
3i has been working on its group strategy to reduce its debt, which now stands at £871m compared with £873m at the end of September 2013.

The buyout house's diluted NAV per share increased by 3% to £3.33 before 3i paid out an interim dividend of 6.7p per share on 8 January 2014.

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