EUROPE - No end in sight for large buyouts

”Deal sizes are increasing more quickly than fund sizes,” said John Barber, managing partner at Citi Private Equity at a luncheon today. Though more prevalent in the US than in Europe, the phenomenon should allow the record fundraisings to find suitable deployment opportunities. He pointed out that the global ‘bubble’ witnessed in 2000 was on the back of a glut of venture funds raised, whereas the record funds being closed today are mostly in the buyout universe. “Unlike buyouts, venture capital is not very scaleable. So the 2000 bust was largely down to venture.” According to data from unquote” database Private Equity Insight, there were 42 European mega-deals (enterprise value of EUR 1bn or more) completed in 2006, and already two dozen in the first half of this year.