European acquirers have seen the best market outperformance since the credit crunch, according to the Q1 2011 Quarterly Deal Performance Monitor from global professional services company Towers Watson. The QDPM is based on analysis by Cass Business School.

Following the biggest global recession since the 1930s, academics from the Centre for Management Buy-out Research (CMBOR) and the Credit Management Research Centre have examined how PE-backed businesses performed through the downturn, relative to their peers. The study was sponsored by the BVCA.

This paper by Luís Faria for the Portuguese think-tank Contraditório considers the reforms that Portugal could implement in order to leave behind a decade of growth rates below 1 per cent.

This blog from M&A consultant Hugo Mendes Domingos examines lack of innovation in Portuguese companies and what could be done to improve the situation.

This 2010 White Paper from EBAN, the European trade association for business angels, seed funds and other early-stage market players, details an asset class in support of the EU strategy for growth and jobs. It is mainly targeted to policy makers, and includes policy recommendations.