British private equity firm 3i Group Plc said it made "some high quality" new investments and had significant realisations from the portfolio at good uplifts in the third quarter.

3i said it invested 183 million pounds ($291 million) during the quarter, up from 59 million pounds in the same period of last year. By business lines, buyouts comprised 166 million pounds of investments in the third quarter.

This brings the total investment in the nine months to December 31, 2010 to 510 million pounds, more than double the 249 million-pound investment in the year-ago period.

Realisations were 105 million pounds for the third quarter, bringing realisations to 398 million pounds for the nine month period. Realisations, excluding co-investment funds, were 270 million pounds for the third quarter last year, bringing realisations to 777 million pounds for the nine months to December 2009.

As at December 31, 2010,the group said it had cash, cash deposits and undrawn committed facilities of 1.91 billion pounds, compared with 2.13 billion pounds as at September 30, 2010.

3i is focused on buyouts, growth capital and infrastructure, investing in Europe, Asia and North America. The company actively invests in sectors such as Industrials & Energy, TMT, Business and Financial Services, Healthcare and Consumer.

For the half year ended Sept. 30, 3i reported a profit and a rise in net asset value, and it lifted its interim dividend by 20 percent to 1.2 pence. Net asset value rose to 3.16 billion pounds from 2.75 billion pounds.

Shares of 3i closed Wednesday's trading at 314.10 pence on the London Stock Exchange.

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