competition see inter cities fairs cup . 3i group plc type public limited company traded as lse iii industry private equity founded 1945 created by a syndicate of british banks headquarters london united kingdom key people sir adrian montague chairman simon borrows ceo 1 operating income 702 million 2015 2 net income 700 million 2015 2 number of employees 266 2015 3 website www.3i.com 3i group plc is a multinational private equity and venture capital company based in london united kingdom . 3i is listed on the london stock exchange and is a constituent of the ftse 100 index . contents 1 history 2 operations 3 references 4 external links history edit the company was formed in 1945 as the industrial and commercial finance corporation icfc by the bank of england and the major british banks to provide long term investment funding for small and medium sized enterprises . its foundation was inspired by the macmillan committee and resulted from the recognition in the 1930s given new impetus in the postwar era that smaller businesses faced a gap in available corporate finance due to banks being unwilling to provide long term capital and the companies being too small to raise capital from the public markets . during the 1950s and 1960s and particularly after 1959 when the shareholder banks allowed it to raise external funds icfc expanded to become the largest provider of growth capital for unquoted companies in the united kingdom . in 1973 icfc acquired finance corporation for industry a sister company also formed in 1945 which focused on finance for large companies and was renamed finance for industry ffi . in the 1980s ffi became a leading provider of finance for management buyouts and expanded internationally . in 1983 the company was renamed investors in industry commonly known as 3i . 3i group was created in 1987 when the banks sold off their stakes to form a public limited company . in 1994 the company was floated on the london stock exchange with a market capitalisation of 1.5 billion . 4 operations edit 3i invests in mid market buyouts growth capital minority and infrastructure . sectors invested in are business and financial services consumer industrials and energy and healthcare . current investments include acr capital reinsurance 3i bought into this re insurance business in 2006 . 5 action in june 2011 3i bought a majority stake in this dutch discount retailer . 6 agent provocateur in november 2007 3i acquired the lingerie business . 7 element materials technology 3i announced the acquisition of the materials and testing group of stork b.v. in november 2010 . 8 foster and partners 3i acquired a minority growth capital stake in the architecture practice in may 2007 . this was bought back by the practice in june 2014 to become wholly owned by the 140 partners . 9 m mora servicios funerarias 3i bought into this spanish funeral service provider in 2008 . 10 scandlines 3i have had 100 % ownership of scandlines since november 2013 . 11 q holding co 3i are due to purchase the company s three main operating businesses qure medical qsr and quadra tooling and automation . 12 weener plastic packaging group in june 2015 3i announced an investment in weener plastic packaging group 13 references edit 3i leadership executive team . retrieved 23 may 2012 . a b annual report 2015 pdf . 3i . retrieved 19 march 2016 . 3i group yahoo our history . 3i . com . retrieved 15 march 2015 . 3i and khazanah lead investment in acr s 620m inaugural private placement alternative assets 1 december 2006 3i proposes preliminary terms for loans to back action buyout bloomberg 18 august 2011 men administrator 16 november 2007 . 3i buys agent provocateur . men . retrieved 15 march 2015 . 3i in deal to buy dutch stork materials for 130m evening standard 24 november 2010 foster & partners announces plans for its future 3i acquires m mora in eur 330m deal unquote 19 august 2008 3i offers to take full control of nordic ferry group scandlines ft.com 12 september 2013 sale to private equity firm should bolster q holding co. . crain s cleveland business . retrieved 2014 12 19 . 3i invests 250m in weener plastic packaging group 3i . com 4 june 2015 external links edit companies portal official site yahoo profile v t e ftse 100 companies of the united kingdom ftse 250 3i admiral group anglo american antofagasta ashtead group associated british foods astrazeneca aviva bae systems bhp billiton bp babcock international barclays barratt developments british american tobacco british land bt group bunzl burberry capita carnival centrica coca cola hbc compass group crh croda international dcc diageo direct line group dixons carphone easyjet experian fresnillo gkn glaxosmithkline glencore hammerson hargreaves lansdown hikma pharmaceuticals hsbc imperial brands informa intercontinental hotels group international airlines group intertek intu properties itv johnson matthey kingfisher land securities group legal & general lloyds banking group london stock exchange group marks & spencer mediclinic international merlin entertainments micro focus international mondi morrisons national grid next old mutual paddy power betfair pearson persimmon polymetal international provident prudential randgold resources royal bank of scotland reckitt benckiser relx group rio tinto group rolls royce royal dutch shell royal mail rsa insurance group sage group j sainsbury schroders severn trent shire sky smith & nephew smiths group sse standard chartered standard life st. james s place taylor wimpey tesco travis perkins tui unilever united utilities vodafone whitbread wolseley worldpay wpp v t e private equity and venture capital basic investment types buyout venture mezzanine growth secondaries equity co investment history history of private equity and venture capital early history of private equity private equity in the 1980s private equity in the 1990s private equity in the 2000s terms and concepts buyout financial sponsor management buyout divisional buyout buy sell agreement leveraged recapitalization dividend recapitalization venture angel investor business incubator post money valuation pre money valuation seed money startup company venture capital financing venture debt venture round structure private equity firms and funds limited partnership limited liability company carried interest management fee publicly traded private equity business development company venture capital trust private investment in public equity pipe pledge fund investors corporations institutional investors pension funds insurance companies fund of funds endowments foundations investment banks merchant banks commercial banks high net worth individuals family offices sovereign wealth funds crowdfunding related financial terms aum cap table capital call capital commitment capital structure distribution waterfall ebitda envy ratio high yield debt ipo irr leverage liquidation preference m & a pme taxation of private equity and hedge funds undercapitalization vintage year private equity and venture capital investors private equity firms venture capital firms angel investors portfolio companies v t e largest private equity investment firms 3i group aac capital partners advent international alpinvest partners american capital apax partners apollo global management ares management bain capital bc partners berkshire partners the blackstone group bridgepoint capital candover the carlyle group ccmp capital cerberus capital management charterhouse capital partners cinven clayton dubilier & rice cvc capital partners doughty hanson & co encap investments eqt partners first reserve corporation fortress investment group general atlantic goldman sachs capital partners gtcr hellman & friedman h.i.g. capital jrk property holdings kkr trilantic capital partners leonard green & partners madison dearborn partners nordic capital oak investment partners oaktree capital management onex teachers private capital pacific equity partners pai partners permira providence equity partners sentinel capital partners silver lake partners summit partners sun capital partners ta associates terra firma capital partners thomas h. lee partners tpg capital warburg pincus welsh carson anderson & stowe private equity private equity firms venture capital firms portfolio companies retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title 3i & oldid 715200088 categories 3i groupcompanies established in 19451945 establishments in the united kingdomfinancial services companies of the united kingdomcompanies listed on the london stock exchangefinancial services companies based in londonprivate equity firms of the united kingdomventure capital firms of the united kingdomhidden categories use dmy dates from april 2011 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutschespa olfran aisrom n suomisvenska edit links this page was last modified on 14 april 2016 at 09 15 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view