PAI, France's largest private equity firm, is set to boost its activity in the UK buy-out market by establishing a permanent presence in London.

Investors regard PAI primarily as an investor in southern European countries but Amaury-Daniel de Seze, the firm's chairman and chief executive, said: "The UK is a very interesting market, very open. A number of quoted companies look like public-to-private targets and we are looking at some."