Les Brun, founder, chairman and chief executive of Hamilton Lane, the US fund-of-funds business, has said the private equity industry needs rationalisation to give it the maturity of other financial industries and make it a more viable asset class.

Speaking to more than 1,000 attendees at the annual SuperReturns private equity conference in Munich, he said there was "considerable concern" that as an asset class venture capital and buy-outs could not provide the returns originally promised.