Too much money in the bank might be a welcome problem for many people but it is causing a headache for private equity firms and their investors. Investors have committed a record amount of cash to private equity firms in Europe over the past two years but the firms, reluctant to match the high prices being paid for assets, are struggling to spend it.

Time is not on their side. Spend the money too slowly and both private equity firms and their investors miss out on returns. Yield to the temptation to rush into poorer quality deals and, again, both sides on the funds raised in the past two years get poorer returns.