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About 3i and corporate responsibility
Our approach to corporate responsibility is commercially based and driven by our vision to be the private equity firm of choice. We think about corporate responsibility from two perspectives: "as an investor" and "as a company" in our own right.
We view an active approach to corporate responsibility as more than simply a means to retain our licence to operate, or to reduce risk. We believe that it provides genuine competitive advantage and that it helps us to maximise the returns for our shareholders, as well as for the investors in the funds that we advise or manage.
Private equity investment has become mainstream as an asset class for investors and as an investment style. In many countries it is also now a well established way for high-quality management teams to raise capital and to transform the businesses that they run or own.
Full consideration of corporate responsibility issues is central to the sustained success of the private equity industry. This means thinking about the impact of the firm as well as each investment through its life cycle.
At 3i we believe that:
- Aligning interests and ensuring that there is a common sense of purpose with respect to CR issues is key to our success.
- Taking an active partnership approach to the boards and management teams in our portfolio delivers value.
- Having good processes and policies in place on CR issues adds value to our investments, but real success depends upon the individual judgments that our staff and our portfolio companies make each day.
Company overview
3i has been helping to grow and transform businesses for over 60 years. We operate across three continents with around £8 billion of assets under management (as at 31 March 2009).
Find out more about 3i.
Types of investment
The term ‘private equity’ is used to refer to a broad range of investment types. Find out about the range of investments we make, how we make them and the way we work with our portfolio companies to create value.
Find out more about the types of investment we make.
Sectors
Adding value to a business requires the insight and expertise that can only come with experience and resources. Our expertise is organised within specialist investment teams focused on a range of sectors.
Find out more about our sectors.
Understanding private equity
Private equity is a large industry operating across the world. The industry is comprised of a wide variety of different organisations, each with their own individual style and culture. However, like many other industries, there is some jargon and there are some common expressions which people in the industry use.
Find out more about some of the language of private equity.
Industry-wide based initiatives
3i plays an active role in many of the private equity industry associations around the world, supporting industry-wide initiatives and the development of best practice.
Find out more.
