LONDON (Reuters) - Lloyds Banking Group's (>> Lloyds Banking Group PLC) mid-market private equity group LDC has appointed former 3i (>> 3i Group plc) director Gordon Hague to lead its 300 million pound investment in engineering and industrial firms.

LDC said earlier this month it would increase its funding commitment to specialist engineering and manufacturing businesses by 50 percent from the 200 million pounds it targeted for the fund two years ago.

LDC has long been active in the sectors, having completed more than 130 deals in them since it was formed in 1981. It has completed 11 investments in manufacturing and specialist engineering since October 2011, placing equity funding of more than 190 million pounds.

Hague was responsible for the general and industrials market at private equity group 3i, and worked on deals including a 60 million pound investment in data centre business Telecity (>> TeleCity Group Plc).

(Reporting By Sebastian Salek; Editing by David Cowell)

By Sebastian Salek

Stocks treated in this article : Lloyds Banking Group PLC, TeleCity Group Plc, 3i Group plc