Private equity has seeped into many aspects of business life, owning assets from cinemas to toll roads, yet the industry is poorly understood by a majority of people living in Europe's five biggest economies, according to an in-depth poll carried out on behalf of the Financial Times.

The lack of understanding - 62 per cent of people are "not at all familiar" with private equity - comes at a time when the industry's financial clout and appetite to buy large, well-known businesses has never been greater.