3i Group PLC (LSE: III) is a leading private equity firm. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
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 government, and resulted from the recognition i...
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3i Group PLC (LSE: III) is a leading private equity firm. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
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 government, 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: the banks were unwilling to provide long-term capital and the companies were too small to raise capital from the public markets.
During the 1950s and 1960s, 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...
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