EQT said it had appointed J.P. Morgan as financial adviser for the review of the credit business, which had 3.9 billion euros (£3 billion) of assets under management.

The credit operation's growth prospects are in areas outside EQT’s core business of active ownership, the firm said as it announced the review.

"In the case of credit, growing this business would be in areas further away from EQT’s core and, I must also add, with a bit less in common with the rest of EQT on the operations side," Chief Operating Officer Caspar Callerstrom said on a call with analysts.

The company also said that total fee-paying assets under management were 39.9 billion euros at the end of the fourth quarter, down from 40.5 billion euros at Sept. 30.

EQT added that total fund exits were 2.4 billion euros, mainly from its private capital business.

EQT invested 1.9 billion euros in the three months to Dec. 31, down from 3.4 billion euros in the previous quarter.

The company, which was listed in September, will publish a more detailed full-year report on Feb. 12.

(Reporting by Colm Fulton; Editing by David Goodman)