Phones are ringing off the hook for private equity!

“Is private equity back?” This is the cautious question being whispered in corporate finance circles as the number of deals in worldwide begin to increase.

One private equity dealmaker said the same bankers who used to call him before the crisis were now constantly ringing him up. “It’s like the last year never happened. Bankers who had spent six months working on a deal last year, to see it collapse with no fee, are now back and taking me out to lunch,” he said. “The deal addiction is a difficult one to kick.”

A growing list of larger deals in private equity is emerging. It may be a far cry from the heady days of 2007 when buyout firms regularly bought multi-billion dollar companies, but sentiment is slowly changing. Harald Bay, an executive at Prime One Capital, said: “We noticed about the middle of the year there was a different feel to the market. Sponsors are making many more inquiries and there’s an awful lot more going on than there has been at any other time this year. We’re seeing a lot of banks now looking at becoming more involved in processes.”

A positive sign is that banks are considering underwriting more transactions. The lack of willingness to underwrite deals during the past year had led to a tortuous process for sponsors looking to put together larger deals.

Bay said Prime One Capital was looking at underwriting three separate transactions. “Slowly more banks are coming round to our point of view. We’re very keen, and always have been, to try to underwrite. In the darkest hour for the banks we continued to support our clients. People are cognizant of that.” he said.