There has been a bit of a turnaround at private equity group 3i, whose shares are now in negative territory after a downgrade from ratings agency Standard & Poor's.
Earlier 3i's shares had moved higher after it bought out the 51.1% of listed group 3i QPE that it did not already own. The move will allow 3i access to around £240m of cash reserves, and follows the raising of £60m last week and £100m worth of disposals in January, all part of 3i's plan to cut its £2.1bn debt mountain.
There was also talk it was seeking a couple of new non-executive directors, and all of this seemed to be well received.
But now S&P has thrown a spanner in the works, cutting its long term rating on 3i from A- to BBB+, with a negative outlook. S&P said 3i's financial profile was no longer consistent with an A category rating, and the near term total return prospects are poor. So 3i is now down 7.5p at 210.25p having earlier reached 233.5p.
