Deals

New 3i chairman has infrastructure background

Sir Adrian Montague has been appointed as the new chairman of listed UK investment group 3i, replacing Baroness Hogg. Montague has extensive experience of infrastructure.

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3i Group, the London-listed private equity and infrastructure investor, announced today that Sir Adrian Montague would become its new chairman at the conclusion of the firm’s annual general meeting in July. He replaces Baroness Hogg, who took up her new role as chairman of the UK’s Financial Reporting Council – the corporate reporting and governance regulator – on 1 May after eight years at the helm of 3i.

Montague is currently non-executive chairman of Anglian Water, the UK water company in which 3i holds a minority stake, and Skanska, the global construction firm based in Sweden. He was previously chairman of British Energy, the UK nuclear power company now a subsidiary of EDF; Crossrail, a promoter and developer of rail links in the south-east of England; and was deputy chairman of Network Rail, the owner and operator of the UK’s rail infrastructure.

Furthermore, Montague was involved in the implementation of UK government policies on private investment in public infrastructure in his roles as chief executive of the Treasury Taskforce – which aimed to increase private finance initiative (PFI) deal flow and reduce the costs of tendering – and as deputy chairman of its successor organisation, Partnerships UK.

Another high-profile past role held by Montague was as chairman of UK financial services group Friends Provident. Current non-executive roles also include Michael Page International, the UK recruitment agency, and CellMark, the Swedish pulp and paper firm.

3i Infrastructure listed on the London Stock Exchange in March 2007, raising £703 million (€813 million; $1.1 billion) in an initial public offering and a further £115 million from a subsequent placing and open offer in July 2008. 3i also has a $1.2 billion India Infrastructure Fund. 3i Investments, which acts as an investment adviser to 3i Infrastrcuture, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of 3i Group.

In its annual results announcement last week, 3i Infrastructure increased its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation by 11.2 percent year-on-year. It ended the year to March 31 with a £314 million war chest, which it said it would use to make new investments.