Nordic private equity funds outperform European peers as they are poised to match a pre-crisis record.

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Private equity firms in the Nordic region is on the lookout for opportunities to spend cash that’s been largely idle for the past two years. Today private-equity investment is on the brink to match a pre-crisis record, a new report said.

Total investments levels in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland in the first half of 2010 rose 150 percent to 2.85 billion euros ($3.2 billion), compared to the first half of 2009, which is well above the European market which only saw 50 percent increase.

The rapid increase puts the region on track to match 2007’s record 7 billion euros.

“A lot of the Nordic funds, especially the Norwegian ones, were successful in raising capital right before the financial crisis and are probably looking for opportunities to put that money to work,” Maria Borch Helsengreen, head of business development at asset manager Argentum Fondsinvesteringer, told Bloomberg. “There’s no indication that investments in the second-half of the year should be any lower than the first half.”

Buyout funds globally were sitting on more than 470 billon dollar in so-called "dry powder” at the start of 2010. With ample room to maneuver, private equity funds have accounted for a large chunk of merger and acquisition activity internationally.

Also in the Nordic Region a number of large private equity funds raised money before the drought set in and, unlike other buyers, have been able to invest when the market started to recover.

“Most funds have been sitting on the fence for the past two years and invested very little,” Kine Buroey Ianssen, a partner at Cubera Private Equity AS, told the newswire. “Now they’re able to pursue investments because pricing has improved and they’re dependent on investing their capital relatively quickly -- they’re not supposed to sit on their money for too long.”

Investment levels in the Nordic Region soared in the second quarter of 2010 with 85 investments into 76 companies. This represents an 80 percent increase in investment activity and an 85 percent increase in the number of firms which received private equity funding compared to the first quarter of 2010.