Inveralia, the Spanish private equity firm, has closed what is thought to be the largest buy-out to be completed in Spain so far this year - the €150m ($146m) acquisition of Famosa, the toy manufacturer.

The Spanish market was slow in the first half of 2002, when only €200m was invested and the biggest deal was Mercapital's buy-out of Ka, a home furnishing retailer, for €40m. Mercapital committed €150m to Spanish leisure centres and CVC acquired El Arbol, a struggling supermarket chain, for which the vendor paid it €75m.