No investment trusts left in FTSE 100 as 3i drops out

The FTSE All Share's quarterly review has relegated private equity and venture capital firm 3i Group to the FTSE 250, leaving no investment companies in the FTSE 100 for the first time since 1994.

The group's market cap has fallen from £10bn in 2000 to just short of £2bn today, after the firm share price was severely dented during the credit crisis. Another tough year for markets has seen the private equity firm's share price fall 38% so far in 2011, sending its market cap down further and prompting its withdrawal from the blue chip index. The group's exit follows Alliance Trust's relegation earlier this year, while Jeremy Tigue's Foreign and Colonial trust slipped into the FTSE 250 in 2009. A spokesperson for the AIC played down the importance of having an investment compan...