Permira, the pan-European buy-out firm, has scooped four of the Financial News awards for excellence in private equity after its sale of Homebase, the UK do-it-yourself retailer, impressed investors, advisers and rivals across the board.

Permira dominated the awards, winning European Private Equity Disposal of the Year; European Large Buy-Out Firm of the Year; European Private Equity Team/Personality of the Year and UK Private Equity Firm of the Year. It narrowly lost out on a fifth award after BS Private Equity won in the Italian Private Equity Firm of the Year category.