Northern Ireland's tiny venture capital market has received a fillip with the announcement that 3i, the venture capital company, is leading a £10 million sterling management buy-in at ShopElectric, Northern Ireland Electricity's retail subsidiary.

It will transform the company's 34 city-centre stores into the province's leading electrical goods retailer. A consortium, in which 3i has a 45 per cent stake, paid £1 million for NIE Retail, which owns the stores, and has announced plans to invest a further £9 million. Mr Les Armstrong, former chief executive of Hampden Group, the DIY stores group, is being brought in by 3i as chief executive.