A few years ago, buyout firms may not have counted the psyches of chief executives and the hopes and dreams of finance directors among their biggest concerns, but members of the private equity industry are increasingly examining the minds of their management teams in the latest example of due diligence.

In a chat at an industry event yesterday evening with the sales director of a private equity-backed software provider, it emerged more buyout houses were performing psychoanalyses of the management of their investee companies - a practice more common in the corporate sector.