The hefty fees earned by the world’s biggest private equity groups will have to fall if they are to raise more money from cash-strapped investors, the chief investment officer of SVG Advisers warned on Thursday.

“I am going to have a hard time when someone is trying to raise their third or fourth fund and it’s going to be $4bn or $5bn and they still want to charge 2 per cent,” said Solomon Owayda, who oversees €4.4bn (£3.5bn) of private equity investments at SVG.