The French private equity industry is seeking to boost its image by highlighting its role in job creation.

Dominique Oger, chairman of Association Française des Investisseurs en Capital (Afic), the private equity industry's trade body, said: "It is time to highlight the part played by unlisted companies in the creation of national wealth. I think the fact that private equity investment in the UK is almost three times as big as in France explains, at least partly, the difference in the rates of growth of the two countries."