The prospect of a Brexit and wider market uncertainty are causing private equity firms to hold off doing deals in Europe, with the first quarter of 2016 on course for a sharp fall.

There have been 181 financial sponsor-related entry and exit deals worth a combined value of $20.1 billion in Europe in 2016 to March 10, according to Dealogic. This represents a 44% drop in value and a 28% drop in the number of deals over the same period in 2015. The 2016 figures put the period on course to register a similar level of activity to 2014.