Willem Mesdag, a director at the private equity group 3i, invested more than £280,000 in the company following well-received full-year results and benefited from a strong rise in the share price.
He took 100,000 shares at 281p a time. The shares closed just shy of 290p, meaning that Mesdag has made a profit of £9,000 already.
The rise in 3i's share price came in spite of the firm taking a £198m hit on its investment in Enterprise, the provider of government services, due to tough economic conditions in Britain. Gross return in the year to 31 March fell to £601m from £843m.
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3i's chairman Sir Adrian Montague hailed a rise in the company's investments over the period.
"High quality new investment has always been central to future value growth for our shareholders," he said.
3i, which earlier this month announced an investment in camping equipment retailer Go Outdoors, described the environment as "generally improving but somewhat fragile."
"Significant regional differences are evident and it is a little early to assess the longer term effects of the geopolitical developments in the Middle East, the natural disaster in Japan, and increased energy and other commodity prices," the company said.
Top Director Buys
3i Group (III) Director name: Mr Willem MesdagAmount purchased: 100,000 @ 281.00p Value: £281,000
Norseman Gold (NGL) Director name: Mr Vincent PendalAmount purchased: 200,000 @ 19.05p Value: £38,100
Braemar Shipping Services (BMS) Director name: Mr Alastair H FarleyAmount purchased: 10,471 @ 475.00p Value: £49,737
JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) Director name: Sir Ian ProsserAmount purchased: 15,000 @ 292.59p Value: £43,888
DCC (DCC) Director name: Mr Leslie Van de WalleAmount purchased: 670 @ €22.43 Value: €15,028
Top Director SellsBeazley (BEZ) Director name: Mr Nicholas FurlongAmount sold: 367,442 @ 130.00p Value: £477,675
Beazley (BEZ) Director name: Mr Nicholas FurlongAmount sold: 232,558 @ 130.00p Value: £302,325
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