US winning

Poll shows America ahead in private equities, writes Roxane McMeeken. European ultra high net worth investors are bullish about private equity but they believe the best opportunities lie in the US, according to a recent survey. JPMorgan Private Bank polled 150 clients, each with E10m in assets to invest, and found 41 per cent favoured the US for private equity investments. Europe came in a close second with 38 per cent and appears to be growing in popularity. Of the respondents, 59 per cent had made private equity investments over the past two years and 55 per cent “felt optimistic” about making similar investments in Europe in the future. Max Burger-Calderon, chairman of Europe’s venture capital association, EVCA, said that Europe’s private equity market was catching up with the US. He said there were especially attractive early stage opportunities in Italian fashion, Scandinavian wireless technology and UK biotechnology. In Europe’s buyout market he said notable new opportunities were arising in the family business sector, in particular in French consumer goods, German automotive technology, Italian machinery and food, Scandinavian IT and Swiss financial services. JPMorgan found the affluent investors to be digging in generally when it came to private equity. Seventy-four per cent of the group questioned had made investments in the asset class over the past two years and 88 per cent were considering increasing their investment. Credit Suisse in Germany seems to be keyed into this trend, having just launched its first private equity fund of funds for wealthy clients. The UHWIs were more impressed with European opportunities presented by other alternative classes. While they still expected the best returns from US hedge managers (45 per cent), confidence in European houses is rising, with 42 per cent of respondents expecting managers here to generate the highest returns.