Private equity-backed companies in Europe made 368 add-on acquisitions in the first half of the year — the highest ever recorded for the period since 1998, according to mid-market buyout firm Silverfleet Capital.

The number of acquisitions by portfolio companies in the first half went up 9% year-on-year, Silverfleet found. The combined value of add-on deals was €2.4bn, down from €4.9bn in the first half of 2018. This is due to a trend of not disclosing deal values, the firm said, with only 11% of the total number of buyers revealing how much they paid for the add-ons.