Carlyle agreed on Thursday to sell a 7.5 per cent stake in itself to an arm of Abu Dhabi’s government – the latest US private equity group to bring in a sovereign wealth fund as a big investor.

Blackstone sold a near 10 per cent stake in its management company to the Chinese government in May. A different arm of the Abu Dhabi government bought a stake in Apollo Management in July. Selling stakes to international sovereign wealth funds has become a popular way for US buy-out groups to cash in on their booming businesses while expanding their influence in new markets. The Carlyle deal demonstrates that the credit squeeze has not halted such transactions.