While the development of private equity firms beyond their initial remit has been an evolutionary process, it has taken some dramatic statements of intent to bring the changes to the attention of the wider investment community.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts winning a mandate as an underwriter on Manchester United Football Club's £500m high-yield bond issue in January last year was such an example. The deal - which saw KKR beat off competition from several more established bank and accountancy affiliated M&A teams - shocked the market, with one rival fund manager pondering "whether or not they [KKR] had become an investment bank without telling us".