Venture capital market sees investment slide

There was a 25% decline in worldwide investments by UK private equity firms to £6.15bn during the course of 2001. The annual British Venture Capital Association (BVCA) survey of its investment activity found that despite this fall in assets, more companies were financed in 2001 than ever before, with investments made in 1,597 firms, compared to 1,523 in 2000. In the UK alone, the number of companies financed increased by more than 10% to £1.307bn. Despite this, the level of assets allocated to UK venture capital fell in 2001 to £4.75bn from £6.37bn in 2000. The UK still represents 7...