UK private equity ’07 investment rose 37% -BVCA

Investments by members of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA) rose by more than a third in 2007, a report by the trade body and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP showed on Thursday.

Total investment by member firms rose 37 percent to 29.9 billion pounds ($59.02 billion) last year. Allowing for an increase in BVCA members to 214 firms from 192, it rose to 31.6 billion pounds.

Activity was split equally between the first and second half of the year, despite a global credit crunch developing in August.

Investment in the UK in 2007 was 12 billion pounds compared with 14 billion pounds in continental Europe.

“The latest figures demonstrate that the UK is increasingly the gateway to the whole of Europe and the most important centre for the private equity industry outside the U.S.,” BVCA Chief Executive Simon Walker said.

The BVCA is under pressure to prove that private equity has a vital role to play in Britain's economy after a number of high-profile deals in 2007, including the buyout of high-street chemist Alliance Boots, drew fire from trade unions and politicians.

Critics complained that the industry enjoyed unfair tax breaks and was not transparent enough about the way it operated.