Barclays Private Equity has sold Prezioso, a French anti-corrosion coatings company, to PPM Ventures for €170m ($174m) as the popularity of secondary buy-outs continues to grow.

Europe has seen a surge in secondary buy-out activity in 2002, with buy-out firms selling companies to each other as the alternative exit routes closed off. Investors were unwilling to support new issues on the equity markets and corporates were trying to pay off debt.