Canada's private equity sector is set to remain robust this year despite the ongoing credit crunch, it has been predicted.
The projection from Rick Nathan, president of Canada's Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, comes against a backdrop of reduced activity in the US and European private equity sectors, with lenders increasingly worried to finance large deals.
However, in an interview with the Bloomberg news agency Mr Nathan said that he expects "to see growth in 2008" and that Canadian private equity companies are better placed than banks to finance the deals in the current climate.
News of Mr Nathan's predictions come after data released this week showed that Canada's private equity sector saw C$2.3 billion worth of buyouts during the final quarter of 2007.
This represents growth of 64 per cent compared with the same period last year and came at a time when the credit crunch was impacting seriously on private equity deals in comparable markets.
