3i, Europe's largest listed private equity group, said last week the value of its 50 largest investments fell 21 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2008, while EQT Partners, the Nordic buy-out group, wrote down its EQT Fund IV by 50 per cent.
The moves are likely to be the start of an avalanche of downgrades as the private equity industry, which made only tiny writedowns in the June and September quarters, catches up with reality in the public markets.
"Private equity is easily lagging 12 months behind the public markets. The whole industry will take a substantial valuation hit in [the] December [figures]," said Hanspeter Bader, head of private equity at Unigestion, a Swiss investment house.
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