It was the year private equity turned into a record machine. In 2006, the value of US buy-outs hit $410bn, according to Dealogic, more than twice the previous year’s level. Blackstone raised an all-time high for a fund of $20bn. And, you guessed it, the firm struck the biggest ever deal. Its $36bn buy-out of Equity Office Properties took the crown only months after KKR had beaten its own 16-year benchmark (dating back to the RJR Nabisco acquisition in 1989).

Meanwhile, debt markets made the party possible as credit spreads for high-yield debt flirted with new lows amid minimal default rates. And hedge funds fuelled the party as they searched for yield by rushing to put money into the leveraged loan market.