North American institutions contributed 46% of the total €37bn ($35bn) raised for investment in European private equity opportunities in 2001, three times as much as the UK and seven times as much as Germany or France.

US and Canadian institutions have far more experience in private equity than their European counterparts and private equity companies and, as a result, are likely to make their presence felt. Private equity firms have been active in North America since the 1970s, compared with the 1980s in the UK and the 1990s in continental Europe. Fewer than half of Germany's private equity companies have been in existence for more than five years.