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By Freya Berry
LONDON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - British private equity firm 3iGroup said strong market valuations had cleared the wayfor further disposals after it raised 245 million pounds ($371million) from sales of investments in the final quarter of lastyear.
The owner of luxury lingerie firm Agent Provocateur andwomen's clothing chain Hobbs said its sale of German automotivesupplier Hilite and further sales of stakes in several listedU.S. investments had brought its total to 569 million pounds inthe nine months to Dec. 31.
"There's an awful lot of capital out there that's desperateto get decent yields and we're benefiting from that on therealisation side," Group Finance Director Julia Wilson toldreporters on a conference call.
The group has hired Goldman Sachs to sell AgentProvocateur, while the auction for Dutch soft drinks bottlerRefresco Gerber is expected to complete in less thana month. Sources have told Reuters the business has attractedbids from three private equity funds, valuing it at around 1.5billion euros ($1.7 billion).
3i said it had also invested 275 million pounds over theperiod, its financial third quarter, including 173 millionpounds in German jewellery chain Christ.
Diluted net asset value per share rose 5 percent to 375pence, helped by earnings growth of 15 percent among its privateequity investments. A strong dollar helped forex gains to 16million pounds, helping offset losses in the first half of theyear.
Since the end of the third quarter 3i has refinanced starinvestment Action, a Dutch discount chain, which provided thegroup with a 102 million-pound windfall in January. Last week,its infrastructure arm sold its stake in the UK's Eversholt RailGroup to Asian billionaire Li Ka-shing's CKI group.
3i said in November it expected to pay a minimum totaldividend of 15 pence a share for the financial year ended March31 2015. ($1 = 0.6603 British Pounds)($1 = 0.8856 Euros) (Editing by Greg Mahlich and David Holmes)
