CEE private equity, after a tough period that saw many funds go out of business, is enjoying a surge in activity, thanks to access to leveraged finance. Some funds are making big returns. Others, however, are still struggling.

First Wit dumped its attempt to build a retail platform. Next, it dumped its name, and moved out of its Silicon Alley headquarters in New York to Connecticut. Then last year Charles Schwab Capital Markets bought it. At least Wit, by then Soundview, the name of the boutique it bought in 1999, was joining a like-minded firm with ambitions to change how markets work.

Is that spare $400 million giving you a headache? Do you already have the private jet, the yacht, art collection, international properties and a charitable foundation? Maybe you now need your own team of dedicated advisers to help you oversee your family's wealth. How about a family office?

Foreign investment sentiment was already being battered by the Yukos affair, the Kremlin's attack on what was Russia's biggest oil company. However, waning confidence was dealt a fresh blow in August when a Duma deputy officially called for an investigation into ?grey? schemes used by foreigners to hold billions of dollars-worth of Gazprom shares.