At the Annual General Meeting of 3i Group plc at 11am this morning, Baroness Hogg, Chairman, will comment that the year to 31 March 2008 was:

"Another year of good performance, despite challenging markets. 3i achieved substantial growth in net asset value, and successfully continued its strategy of raising external funds to accelerate growth in assets under management."

In the Company''s Interim Management Statement relating to the three month period from 1 April 2008 to 30 June 2008, which was released earlier this morning, Chief Executive Philip Yea said that:

"The mid market has remained open over the first three months of the year, providing both investment opportunities and continued realisations despite the challenging economic outlook."

And

"We remain highly selective with respect to new investment and continue to monitor closely the financial performance of our portfolio. This approach, combined with the diversity of our business in terms of asset class, geography and sector, puts us in a good position to deal with what continues to be an uncertain economic environment."

Baroness Hogg will also refer to 3i''s recently launched corporate responsibility website - http://www.3icr.com/