U.S. Private Equity Fundraising Drops 64% in First Half of '09

New York -- At the midway point of 2009, U.S. private equity firms have raised only about one-third of the amount that they raised during the same period of 2008, according to new figures from Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst. The publication said that funds so far have raised $54.9 billion, down from $152.7 billion a year ago. "Limited partners are still reeling from the extreme shrinkage of their assets under management since last fall," said Jennifer Rossa, the managing editor of Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst.  "As a result, any private equity firm that could afford to delay raising a fund did and those that had to brave the market in the first half of the year faced tough conditions."
http://privateequity.dowjones.com
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/US-Private-Equity-FundRaising-prnews-3581298546.html?x=0&.v=1