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According to just released<\/a> Dow Jones LP Source figures, U.S. private equity fund-raising closed out its worst year for fundraising since 2003, with 331 funds raising a mere $95.8 billion in 2009. That’s down 68% from the $299.9 billion raised by 508 funds in 2008.<\/p>\nZooming in on the past quarter (Q4 2009), Dow Jones LP Source figures show PE firms raised $20.5 billion in 75 funds, down 80% from the $102.7 billion raised by 188 funds in the fourth quarter of 2008. <\/p>\n
Jennifer Rossa, managing editor of Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst, isn’t overly optimistic for 2010 either, and says we’ll not be seeing a return to levels seen before the economic downturn even though limited partners are likely to become more active this year.<\/p>\n
Leveraged buyout and corporate finance funds raised just $53.7 billion across 133 funds last year, a 73% drop from the $195.5 billion raised by 204 funds in 2008. Despite that drop, it remains the biggest slice of the capital pie. Mega funds (funds of $6 billion or more) had most difficulty raising capital in 2009. Six mega funds raised $14 billion, but more than half of the year’s total for mega funds was raised by a single firm, Hellman & Friedman<\/a>, which raised $8.8 billion for its seventh fund last year.<\/p>\n One silver lining in the report: the secondary market was the only subsector of private equity to turn in a strong performance, collecting $17.5 billion in 2009, up 83% from 2008 and a new record.<\/p>\n It wasn’t a stellar year for venture capital either, as you may have<\/a> heard<\/a>. Still, Dow Jones LP Source says, VC firms did not have as difficult a year as buyout firms. Venture fund-raising fell 55% to $13 billion across 120 funds from the $28.7 billion collected by 204 funds in 2008. In the fourth quarter, 21 funds raised $4.4 billion, a 56% drop from the same period last year. We’ve spotted an increase in VC funding deals<\/a> in Q4 2009 based on CrunchBase data as well.<\/p>\n A few of the big winners in 2009 were New Enterprise Associates<\/a>, which raised $1.2 billion, taking the total amount raised to date for the firm’s 13th fund to $2.5 billion<\/a>, and Norwest Venture Partners<\/a> which closed its 11th fund in the fourth quarter after raising $1.2 billion. Outside of Hellman & Friedman’s mega fund and Goldman Sachs Private Equity Group’s secondary fund ($5.5 billion), the fund that closed on the most capital last year was TA Associates’<\/a> eleventh fund, collecting $3.5 billion for its $4 billion fund in 2009.<\/p>\n (Image via Flickr \/ Oxfam International<\/a>)<\/p>\n Crunch Network<\/em><\/strong>: CrunchGear<\/a> <\/em>drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.<\/p>\n