GSC Partners, a New York-based alternative asset management firm, has held a final close of its latest European mezzanine fund at €1bn ($1.2bn), the market's largest since Goldman Sachs raised €2.2bn in 2003.

Richard Hayden, chairman of GSC Europe, said the mezzanine sector in Europe had been profitable. He said: "It has traditionally earned attractive, risk-adjusted returns, significantly higher than those for a commensurate amount of risk elsewhere in the world."