* F&C Investment Trust back to midcaps after one quarter
* Liberty International, Amlin also in danger of exiting
By Jon Hopkins
LONDON, June 8 (Reuters) - Three companies demoted from the FTSE 100 at the last quarterly index reshuffle -- London Stock Exchange , 3i Group, and Wolseley -- look set to return when the latest rejig is unveiled this week.
They would replace real estate investment trust Liberty International, non-life insurer Amlin, and Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust, based on closing share prices from Friday, June 5.
FTSE International will announce the changes to the FTSE UK index series after the market closes on Wednesday. The review is based on closing share prices from Tuesday, June 9, but the changes have to be confirmed by a FTSE committee on Wednesday.
Companies not in the FTSE 100 that grow to rank among the 90 largest by market capitalisation are automatically promoted, while FTSE 100 constituents with the lowest value or that fall below 110th spot drop into the FTSE Midcap 250 index.
DOUBLED DEALERS
London Stock Exchange has more than doubled in value since its demotion caps in March, having fallen 30 percent in the previous quarter.
Aside from benefiting from the overall stock market rally, LSE shares have also been boosted by a change of management.
Xavier Rolet, a 49-year-old former Lehman banker with decades of trading experience, took over from Clara Furse chief executive on May 20.
Private equity company 3i has also seen its share price more than double in the past three months, having shed 45 percent in the previous quarter.
Its poor performance in the first quarter of 2009 was caused by funding uncertainties, with investors concerned by the likely need for a rights issue, which 3i finally launched on May 8.
With the deeply-discounted 732 million pounds cash call out of the way and debt worries receding, investors have focused on the likelihood of private equity firms being ready to profit from likely credit crisis buy-out bargains.
Similarly, plumbing services company Wolseley was dented by concerns over an expected cash call in the first quarter, with its 1 billion pounds rights issue launched just ahead of the last FTSE reshuffle.
Since then, with its debt successfully restructured, signs of life in the housing markets in both Britain and the United States have helped Wolseley shares rise 57 percent.
EXITS DESPITE GROWTH
Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust shares have risen 20 percent since its entry into top flight in March.
But with that performance just matching the benchmark index and three mid cap stocks remaining above it in terms of market capitalisation the trust still looks likely to drop back down to the FTSE 250 index.
Liberty International also put in a good performance over the past quarter, with its shares up 41 percent, but its market capitalisation lags the three potential FTSE-100 entrants.
Liberty followed the lead of other property firms with a fund raising at the end of April but rather than undertaking a rights issue like most of its peers, Liberty raised over 600 million pounds via a placing and open offer which saw majority shareholder Donald Gordon's family keep its grip on the firm.
Capital-raising moves have also undermined Amlin shares over the three months since the last FTSE review, with the stock down 12 percent on the period. At the start of June, Amlin raised 76 million pounds via a placing to part-finance a 350 million euro acquisition of Fortis Corporate Insurance, a provider of marine and corporate property insurance from the Dutch government.
The index changes will be implemented at the start of business on Monday, June 22. (Editing by Dan Lalor)