3i Group Share Price (III)

III - 3i Group Investor Summary

3i Group is an investment and venture capital company, listed on the London Stock Exchange and a member of the FTSE 100 share price index. The company began life in the 1940s then known as the Industrial and Commercial Finance Corporation (ICFC) as a way of aiding small to medium businesses who had limited access to public capital and faced restrictions on private equity from the banks. The Finance Corporation for Industry (FCI) was established at the same time to provide similar services to larger companies and the two were merged in the 1970s, known as Finance for Industry. In the early 1980s this new unified organisation was renamed Investors in Indusry (III, or 3 I).

In 1994 the company was made a plc and shares were offered on the London Stock Exchange, this allowed the firm to take a more forward thinking, dynamic approach to venture capital. The firm later diversified into managing funds for others as well as those in which it had an interest. The firm's most notable deals have included the sale of GoFly to easyJet for £350 million and the sale of Travelex in 2005 for the equivalent of £1 billion. The company is currently organised into three divisions: buyouts, growth capital and venture capital. In 2007 the 3i had a total return on capital of £2 billion and in 2008 revenue was recorded at over £1 billion whilst the firm still employs less than 1000 staff.