PRINT THIS PAGE US influence on European private equity continues to grow, research shows31/08/2004. Source: AltAssets. 
 US private equity firms' influence on the European private equity industry continues to grow according to new figures released by Zephyr, Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing's database of mergers and acquisitions. In the first half of 2004, 26 per cent of all private equity acquisitions announced in Europe emanated from a US bidder, rising from 18 per cent in 2003 and 12 per cent in 2002.
'US firms have been investing heavily in their European operations over recent years and this investment is increasingly evident by the share of the European deals that they are taking part in,' said Lisa Wright, commercial director of Zephyr.
US private equity firms invested a total of E13bn in 122 European deals in the first six months of 2004, only E1.5bn less than for the whole of 2003. The research also shows that US investors were behind each of the top five private equity deals in Europe in the first half of the year.
'The first half figures for 2004 clearly demonstrates the increasing confidence and influence of US private equity investors in the European marketplace,' said Wright. 'This confidence is all the more surprising taking into account the currently unfavourable dollar/euro exchange rate making these investments relatively costly to US companies.'
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