Deciding to create a trade body is a rite of passage. The move marks a moment when a sector recognises that it must step out of the shadows and respond collectively to the greater attention it is attracting. That moment seems to have arrived for the largest private equity houses.

The four US buy-out firms talking about the initiative to represent their joint interests - Blackstone, Carlyle, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Texas Pacific Group - are not known for seeking the spotlight. But they are right that private equity firms must be politically smarter and more active. The comments from a German politician last year likening financial investors to "locusts" is one warning sign: another is the outrage from some quarters of the UK establishment that on the flotation of Qinetiq, Carlyle's stake in the defence technology group was worth many times what it paid for it in 2002.