The era of ultralow interest rates fostered a leveraged buyout boom and a desperate hunger for yield among investors. The private equity industry satisfied both itches, spending trillions of dollars to acquire companies while in more recent years also supplying much of the lending for buyouts.

The backer of smaller companies says they have ducked market forces denting larger technology players.

Bain Capital, Advent International, EQT AB, and KKR are among private equity firms exploring a potential acquisition of Japanese cybersecurity giant Trend Micro (OTC:TMICY), which has a market value of 1.