The long-term prospects for the European private equity market remain positive, according to the European Venture Capital Association (EVCA). This is despite the choppy performance of the public markets since last year and the marked downturn in performance shown in private equity returns in 2000, published by EVCA last week.

Top-quartile performance across all stages of investment showed an annualised internal rate of return (IRR) to investors from a fund's inception of 33% to the end of 2000. This falls to an average IRR of 14.9% across all European funds. The survey covered 479 funds and included €69.8bn ($64.6bn) of committed capital.