Some opportunistic hedge funds may be looking to de-lever their portfolios by raising equity, rather than selling assets, as reported by FTfm this week, but the ever inventive minds of the private equity industry do not seem to be far behind (PDF).

Private equity houses have one huge advantage over hedge funds in that many of them are already sitting on piles of uninvested equity; despite the credit squeeze cash has continued to pour in with the industry raising 32 per cent more money in the first quarter of this year than in the corresponding period of 2007, according to the Private Equity Analyst newsletter.