EUROPE- Private equity investor Advent International is to invest e1.4bn in western Europe following the announcement that its fourth fund Global Private Equity IV has raised e2bn. The remaining e600m will be invested in North America and Asia.

Advent says the fund will target buyouts and established growth companies with a market capitalisation of between e100m-e500m. Sectors of particular interest include speciality chemicals, media, pharmaceuticals, business services, telecoms and late stage technology.

Advent’s latest fund has attracted thirty five new investor groups of which nineteen are European, a figure the group says is indicative of the surge of interest in private equity among European institutions.

Steve Tadler, managing director of Advent is oprimistic about the prospects for the private equity industry. “2001 has been a tumultuous year but transavtions that we are working on now demonstrate that this year and next should be the best investing period in a decade,” he says.

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