SJ Berwin has combined with US leader Fried Frank Harris Shiver & Jacobson to close the e5bn (£3.55bn) Permira Europe III fund – the largest private equity fund ever raised in Europe.

Permira Europe III has attracted more than 130 investors in just six months.

It will make leveraged and unleveraged acquisitions in European businesses or in global businesses with a strong European presence.

Permira's preferred sectors are business services, chemicals, consumer, industrial products and services and technology.

The SJ Berwin team was led by private equity partners Blair Thompson and Jonathan Blake.

Thompson said: "The complexities of such a large private equity fund that operates across so
many jurisdictions are quite daunting and to be able to close the fund in such a short space of time is a fairly remarkable achievement, both from a commercial and legal perspective."

Fried Frank was led by Washington DC-based corporate partner Richard Ansbacher assisted by Ron Leviner.

The deal is a major boost to SJ Berwin's funds practice, which has been hit by a global decrease in new fund formation.

According to the British Venture CapitalAssociation the amount of funds raised in 2002 fell by 43%.
However, SJ Berwin's Blake remains confident that the Permira fundraising is indicative of an upturn in the market.

He said: "We expect that this marks the beginning of a much stronger period of private equity fundraising over the next 18 months."

Typical deal sizes for the Permira fund are expected to be in the range of e100m (£70m) to e3bn (£2.10bn).