LONDON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Private equity firm EquistonePartners Europe on Monday announced the closing of its fourthEuropean buyouts fund after raising 1.5 billion euros ($2billion), in a sign of growing investor appetite for takeoverdeals.
The closing of the fund, which will target acquisitionsvalued between 50 million euros and 300 million euros, comesjust over a year after the team was spun-out of British bankBarclays.
The fund was supported by more than 40 institutionalinvestors largely based in Europe and North America. Two-thirdsof the capital raised came from existing investors in earlierEquistone funds.