Senior buyout executives at large European firms earned less than their venture capital peers in the year to the end of March after a near 20% plunge in their compensation to around $400,000 (€281,000), according to research published this week.

Partners' base salaries, bonuses and carry distributions - the share of profits from investments paid to employees once a certain level of return has been achieved - dropped 19.3% overall to an average of $403,800 by the start of April, according to a report by Dow Jones, owner of Financial News.