Private equity fundraising in Europe has reached its highest level in nine years.

The new level of $83.5 billion reflects a 37 percent year-over-year increase, according to Invest Europe's 2016 European Private Equity Activity report.

The new report shows that private equity investments amounted to $60.2 billion last year, with nearly 6,000 European companies benefiting, according to a press release from Invest Europe.

“This data demonstrates high investor confidence in European private equity, in an otherwise low-yield global investment environment,” Michael Collins, Invest Europe’s CEO, said in a press release. “All European economies are now growing and investors value the proven ability of European fund managers to find attractive investment opportunities across sectors and geographies.”

Consumer goods and services made up the largest amount of private equity investment in 2016 for a 23 percent year-on-year increase. Technology also amounted for a large amount of the investments.

“Over 40 percent of capital raised by European private equity last year came from investors outside of Europe, while a third of investments made into companies were cross-border,” Collins said. “Connecting global investors with local fund managers and working with policymakers to facilitate such cross-border flow of capital is an ongoing priority. This is an important source of funding for thousands of European companies.”