BC Partners, the UK-based private equity firm, is understood to have lost about €150m (£112m) on the sale of Mark IV Industries, having sold the company in December 2007 for a small fraction of what it paid in 2000.

BC, working with other investors including Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, purchased Mark IV, an Italy and US-based manufacturer of engineering systems, for €2.3bn. On January 2, Sun Capital of the US bought Mark IV for €54m ($80m).