3i Group has appointed a high-profile adviser to the UK Government, who once fended off an approach by buyout firm JC Flowers for life insurer Friends Provident, as its new chairman.

Sir Adrian Montague will join the London-based private equity firm after its annual general meeting in July. He has been recruited after a four-month search, led by recruitment firm Zygos, to replace Baroness Hogg, who announced her resignation last July after eight years at 3i.