BC Partners has become the first European firm to begin fundraising for a mega-buyout fund since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, although it has offered improved terms to investors in an attempt to win over a sceptical audience ahead of a spree of €50bn European funds set to come back to market.

The UK buyout firm officially launched its mega-buyout fundraising with the aim of raising just under €6bn, a source familiar with the fundraising said today.