3i Group plc – Annual report – 31 March 2021
Industry: investments
Significant accounting policies (extract)
B Basis of consolidation
In accordance with IFRS 10 the Company meets the criteria as an investment entity and therefore is required to recognise subsidiaries that also qualify as investment entities at fair value through profit or loss. It does not consolidate the investment entities it controls. Subsidiaries that provide investment related services, such as advisory, management or employment services, are not accounted for at fair value through profit and loss and continue to be consolidated unless those subsidiaries qualify as investment entities, in which case they are recognised at fair value. Subsidiaries are entities controlled by the Group. Control, as defined by IFRS 10, is achieved when the Group has all of the following:
- power over the relevant activities of the investee;
- exposure, or rights, to variable returns from its involvement with the investee; and
- the ability to affect those returns through its power over the investee.
The Group is required to determine the degree of control or influence the Group exercises and the form of any control to ensure that the financial treatment is accurate.
Subsidiaries are fully consolidated from the date on which the Group effectively obtains control. All intragroup balances and transactions with subsidiaries are eliminated upon consolidation. Subsidiaries are de-consolidated from the date that control ceases.
The Group comprises several different types of subsidiaries. For a new subsidiary, the Group assesses whether it qualifies as an investment entity under IFRS 10, based on the function the entity performs within the Group. For existing subsidiaries, the Group annually reassesses the function performed by each type of subsidiary to determine if the treatment under IFRS 10 exception from consolidation is still appropriate. The types of subsidiaries and their treatment under IFRS 10 are as follows:
General Partners (“GPs”) – Consolidated
General Partners provide investment management services and do not hold any direct investments in portfolio assets. These entities are not investment entities.
Investment managers/advisers – Consolidated
These entities provide investment related services through the provision of investment management or advice. They do not hold any direct investments in portfolio assets. These entities are not investment entities.
Holding companies of investment managers/advisers – Consolidated
These entities provide investment related services through their subsidiaries. Typically they do not hold any direct investment in portfolio assets and these entities are not investment entities.
Limited Partnerships and other intermediate investment holding structures – Fair valued
The Group makes investments in portfolio assets through its ultimate parent company as well as through other limited partnerships and corporate subsidiaries which the Group has created to align the interests of the investment teams with the performance of the assets through the use of various carried interest schemes. The purpose of these limited partnerships and corporate holding vehicles, many of which also provide investment related services, is to invest for investment income and capital appreciation. These partnerships and corporate subsidiaries meet the definition of an investment entity and are accounted for at fair value through profit and loss.
Portfolio investments – Fair valued
Under IFRS 10, the test for accounting subsidiaries takes wider factors of control as well as actual equity ownership into account. In accordance with the investment entity exception, these entities have been held at fair value with movements in fair value being recognised in profit or loss.
Associates – Fair valued
Associates are those entities in which the Group has significant influence, but not control, over the financial and operating policies. Investments that are held as part of the Group’s investment portfolio are carried in the Consolidated statement of financial position at fair value even though the Group may have significant influence over those companies.
Further detail on our application of IFRS 10 can be found in the Reconciliation of Investment basis to IFRS section.
C Critical accounting judgements and estimates (extract)
(a) Critical judgements (extract)
I. Assessment as an investment entity
The Board has concluded that the Company continues to meet the definition of an investment entity, as its strategic objective of investing in portfolio investments and providing investment management services to investors for the purpose of generating returns in the form of investment income and capital appreciation remains unchanged.
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