A coffee shop in London's West End that usually serves as a useful pitstop for tourists flocking to Covent Garden has since February been the unofficial meeting room for Exponent Private Equity.

The UK's newest mid-market private equity house, which last week held a £400m (€596m) final close on its debut fund, can pay £100 an hour for the privilege of renting a meeting room in its serviced office. However, investors will be pleased to learn that its four founding partners prefer the low-cost option of nipping round the corner for a coffee and a chat.