3i loses German head

Stephen Kruemmer, the managing director of 3i Group’s German business, will leave the firm tomorrow citing “personal reasons” for his departure.

Kruemmer joined the UK-listed private equity firm’s Frankfurt operations in 2005 and has been credited with “successfully restructuring and repositioning” the business, notably steering it through the acquisition of Nordic ferry service Scandlines and advising 3i Infrastructure on the €305 million investment – its largest transaction outside of the UK– in oil tank storage group Oiltanking.

3i has had offices in Germany for more than 25 years and the region is “a key market” for the firm, according to a statement from chief executive Michael Queen, who praised Kruemmer’s “outstanding contribution”.

Before joining 3i, Kruemmer spent six years as head of Rothchilds’ investment banking business in Germany. Before that he was with German media group Bertelsmann for 11 years, having started his career in 1983 as a consultant at Bain & Company.

He will be jointly succeeded by current partners Ulf von Haacke and Peter Wirtz, who have been working for 3i in Germany for eight years and 11 years respectively.

This is latest in a string of management changes at 3i. In January Philip Yea resigned as chief executive and was replaced by the former infrastructure head Queen, whose role was given to infrastructure senior partner and chief investment officer Cressida Hogg.

The firm, which has been criticised by analysts for its £2.1 billion (€2.3 billion; $3.1 billion) debt burden, yesterday confirmed it is considering raising fresh capital via a rights issue.

This afternoon 3i’s shares were trading up 26 points from close yesterday at 324.50 pence each. This time last year it was trading at around 880 pence each.