Asia stakes lead 3i wish-list

THE new chief executive of 3i today declared that its growth capital division, which takes minority stakes in businesses, will to be the company's fastest expanding unit.

One of Philip Yea's first moves on arrival was to shift finance director Michael Queen to head growth capital and today he said he would be allocating investment resources to the division, which will hunt down opportunities, especially in the Asian market.

His maiden set of results showed 3i sold £603m of businesses in the half-year to 30 September against £503m a year earlier thanks to sales and flotations including Pinewood Shepperton studios. It also pumping £422m into new opportunities. Only this week it bought Hobbs shoes.

Total return was £231m, representing a 7.2% increase on shareholders' funds. The same cash invested in components of the FTSE All Share index would have grown by 5.1%.

'(I) see opportunities as business increasingly moves to India and China,' said Yea after Europe's largest-listed private equity firm reported a strong set of interim results.

'We have this great scale and we need to become more agile and faster moving in certain areas.'