The private equity landscape looks set to shift under the weight of a tough fundraising environment, increasingly stressed investments and the growing difficulty of putting capital in existing funds to work. Some of Europe’s biggest firms will struggle to generate the returns investors have been demanding, and some are likely to fall out of the market altogether.

The health of the market can be gauged by looking at how many firms that were most active in raising cash in the boom years have returned to tap investors. A relatively buoyant sector would mean a higher number of funds asking for more; a smaller number would suggest a difficulty in investing the previous fund and a lack of appetite for further amounts.