Europe's largest publicly traded private equity firm, 3i Group Plc, has revealed that their investments rose by 38 per cent in the second quarter of this year.

Providing firm evidence that the company is back on the acquisition trail, their investments, which totalled £105 million compared to £76 million in the same period last year, far outpaced disposals.

Investments included £35 million in French private hospitals operator Vedici, 3i said.

One of the UK’s oldest private equity firms, 3i was hit hard by the credit crunch, being forced to raise £700 million and sell assets last year.

In a statement, the firm revealed that it raised £79 million by selling assets between April and June of this year, compared with £163 million a year earlier.

Sales included Kniep, the Luxembourg-based independent service provider to the global asset management industry, which sold for £29 million. Realisation proceeds so far exclude the sale of Inspicio, a testing company, to Bureau Veritas, which won’t be completed until the end of the summer.

Chief executive officer Michael Queen, who took the top job during 3i's serious financial crisis last year, said that despite uncertain markets the company continued to perform well.

“We are seeing stable-to-improving earnings performance across the portfolio and continue to see a good pipeline of investment opportunities,” he said.

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