Only a major economic wobble would reverse the move towards the American-style waterfalls, according to the head of the PE practices at one of the world’s largest law firms. “You’re starting to see more and more European funds and European institutional investors accepting them,” Dentons’ Paul Gajer tells Private Funds CFO‘s Brian Bonilla.

Data from another law firm support this. The most recent instalment of MJ Hudson’s fund terms survey found that the direction of travel among US-based funds was toward deal-by-deal carry, with more than two-thirds of US funds set up this way. For European managers, nearly 90 percent operate on a whole-of-fund-carry basis.

Other recent waterfall-related intelligence:

– Consultant Gert-Tom Draisma lays out the pros and cons of three different waterfall calculation methods with varying levels of automation.

– Three anonymous CFOs take us inside their waterfall calculation systems

– A downloadable list of providers that can help you automate your calculations

Email prepared by Toby Mitchenall.