Private equity firms need to adapt to the new realities of global recession, and reduce their leverage for less ambitious deals, Henry Kravis, the founding partner of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and one of the most well known proponents of large buyouts, has warned.

Speaking at the start of the SuperReturn conference in Berlin today, Kravis said access to capital remained extremely limited. He warned private equity firms had to accept that in this environment, "transactions will be smaller and will use less leverage - that's a fact. We have to adapt and if we don't we'll get left out."