A downbeat assessment ahead of a series of investor meetings has sent shares in private equity group 3i sharply lower.
At the same time as announcing new credit facilities and confirming it had cut debt from £1.9bn at the end of March to £858m now, the group warned:
"Despite the recent strong performance of equity markets, the economic outlook is still fragile and private equity and mergers and acquisitions markets remain subdued."
So with its shares falling 10.4p to 277.6p, the group has supplanted British Airways - down 7.5p to 222.4p after a Citigroup downgrade - as the biggest loser in the FTSE 100.
