The private equity boom goes on, with a £10bn approach for Alliance Boots, the UK pharmacy group, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts’ $26bn acquisition of First Data, a US credit card processing group.

Critics say companies are selling out too easily. But, in contrast to the remarks that private equity operators are “locusts” and people who “buy it, strip it and flip it”, Gordon Brown, Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer, has said that private equity firms are to be congratulated for creating jobs at a faster rate than listed companies.