A report by the private equity advisory arm of KPMG, the accountancy firm, and the Manchester Business School has identified business management skills as critical to European private equity houses' ability to attract capital and deal flow.

The report found that only a quarter of the 24 European private equity houses surveyed, which between them run assets worth £60bn (€100bn), had more than 10 executives with direct experience of business management. Few houses second staff to investee companies. The most common response to problems at the investee companies, typically poor management and over-ambitious sales targets, is simply to change the chief investment officer and finance director.