LONDON (ShareCast) - A Non-Executive Director of 3i, a private equity, infrastructure and debt management group, has taken advantage of the company's declining share price to buy up 100,000 shares.

Willem Mesdag, who joined the firm in 2007, bought the shares at 175p a pop for a total of £175,000.

Two weeks ago the company more than doubled its full-year dividend to 8.1p despite seeing returns and assets under management (AUM) slip during the year to March 31st.

Total AUM dropped from £12.7bn to £10.5bn during what the company described as a "challenging" year which saw the performance in Private Equity being offset by a continued drag on returns from pre-credit crisis investments and the value of its largest Asia asset, reinsurance business ACR, affected by natural disasters.

The company has appointed Simon Burrows, formerly the Chief Investment Officer, as its new Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect, following the announcement of Michael Queen’s departure at the end of March.


Top Director Buys

3i Group (III)
Director name: Mr Willem Mesdag
Amount purchased: 100,000 @ 175.00p
Value: £175,000

F&C Asset Management (FCAM)
Director name: Mr Edward Bramson
Amount purchased: 122,965 @ 71.65p
Value: £88,104

Ocean Wilsons Holdings Ltd. (OCN)
Director name: Mr Chris Townsend
Amount purchased: 2,500 @ 1,050.00p
Value: £26,250

CLS Holdings (CLI)
Director name: Mr Sten A Mortstedt
Amount purchased: 1,804 @ 600.00p
Value: £10,824

Conygar Investment Company (CIC)
Director name: Mr Nigel J Hamway
Amount purchased: 11,741 @ 88.00p
Value: £10,332


Top Director Sells

BG Group (BG.)
Director name: Mr Frank Chapman
Amount sold: 368,185 @ 1,285.00p
Value: £4,731,177

Restaurant Group (RTN)
Director name: Mr Andrew Page
Amount sold: 841,665 @ 283.20p
Value: £2,383,595

Restaurant Group (RTN)
Director name: Ms Trish Corzine
Amount sold: 308,249 @ 281.30p
Value: £867,104

Restaurant Group (RTN)
Director name: Mr Stephen Critoph
Amount sold: 300,000 @ 283.20p
Value: £849,600

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