European private-equity firms spent over $100bn last year — a 10-year high — according to data provider Dealogic, and with buyers sitting on huge cash piles, taking on more ambitious deals, and sellers anxious to take advantage of high prices, 2018 could bring more of the same, FN's sister publication Private Equity News reports.

Marco Compagnoni, a senior partner at law firm Weil, Gotshal and Manges, said he expects to see more buyout firms joining forces to bid for assets that are too big for them to buy alone.