3i, Britain’s oldest private-equity house, is snapping up a fund management business from Barclays Bank.
The deal will see it take on the assets of Barclays Infrastructure Funds Management, two funds which have assets of £780 million based in London and Paris.
Around 30 staff will move to 3i’s London and Paris offices once the deal goes through. 3i didn’t disclose how much money is changing hands, suggesting the amount is close to zero.
Chief executive Simon Borrows said the move is “further evidence” of the commitment to develop “our infrastructure business and to increase our income from third-party assets under management”. BIFM was started in 1996 and has lately been investing in energy projects in the UK and Europe. It was one of the first movers in the public private partnership infrastructure market.
3i, once known as Investors in Industry, has lately been the subject of takeover speculation. United States investor Edward Bramson has taken a near-5% stake in the firm and is assumed to have designs on a shake-up of 3i at the least.
3i says Bramson has not been in touch to make his intentions known. He previously engineered a coup at fund manager F&C.
The private-equity firm, which is aiming to become one of Europe’s biggest investors in infrastructure, said the deal would complement its business at 3i Infrastructure and help it to raise funds and source new investment opportunities.
