Estimating who or what are the biggest of their kind can be a difficult business, whether you’re a geographer trying to work out the world’s biggest islands (do you include continents?), a scientist trying to establish the world’s biggest birds (height or wingspan?), or a financial analyst calculating the scale of private equity houses.

There are various benefits to being among the largest firms in private equity. As well as having greater firepower to buy the best assets, firms with larger funds can attract more in fee income and having a high profile can help attract investors at fundraising time.