Private Equity Not Showing Signs of Weakness

In raising only 3% short of its figure for the first half of 2007, private equity firms are proving that there is still plenty of liquidity available for the right deals. Savvy investors, no doubt, are preparing to take advantage of the down-cycle with a spate of buyouts, mergers and IPOs in time for when the economy rebounds.

$132.7 billion; that's the figure American private equity firms raised in the first half of this year - just 3% shy of the figure for last year, which, by the way, was a record year. The news gets even better when you focus in on venture capital specifically. VC firms raised $11.5 billion in the first half of '08 - a full 15% improvement over the $10 billion they raised last year. All this points to a great deal of future deals. While IPO numbers are down to historic lows, the money being raised among the alternative financing segment of the capital markets suggests that that slowdown will be short-lived, which, of course, points to a stronger outlook for the economy as a whole. Timing, of course, is anyone's guess.