Private equity (PE) backed companies were more profitable and successful in creating jobs than their publicly listed peers in China over the past seven years, according to a survey conducted by Bain & Company and the European Union Chamber of Commerce.

The survey compared the performance of 100 companies that received at least $20 million PE funding, excluding real estate and bank investments, with 2,424 publicly listed Chinese companies between 2002 and 2008.

PE firms recorded nearly 100 percent growth in jobs and 56 percent in profits over their bigger peers during the period.