3i, an international leader in private equity, announces today that Stephan Kruemmer, Group Partner and Managing Director of the German-speaking business, has decided to leave 3i for personal reasons with effect from 30 April 2009.

Stephan, who joined 3i in 2005, successfully restructured and repositioned 3i’s business in the German market. Under his leadership, the German business made successful investments such as Scandlines and Norma Group and advised 3i Infrastructure on its investment in Oiltanking, the largest of 3i Infrastructure’s transactions outside the UK. The team’s track record of profitable realisations in the past four years includes SR Technics, Betapharm and Wendt.

“Germany is a key market for 3i and Stephan has made an outstanding contribution to the development of our German business. I would like to thank him for this. We are sorry to see him go and wish him every success in his future career,” said 3i Chief Executive Michael Queen.

Ulf von Haacke and Peter Wirtz will jointly succeed Stephan as Managing Directors of 3i Germany. Over the past decade, Ulf and Peter, both Partners in 3i’s global buyout business, have significantly developed the German portfolio through their involvement in numerous transactions.

“In Ulf and Peter we have two highly effective and well-established operators in the German market who know how to harness 3i’s global strengths for the benefit of our local portfolio companies. They have a very strong team and a considerable market opportunity,” Michael said.