Candover Investments, the London-listed arm of the private equity group, has cut in half the value of its stake in Gala Coral, the betting and bingo group.

However, Candover said that it was still popular with big institutional investors such as Standard Life and the Canada Pension Plan, which helped it raise €2.8bn (£2.2bn, $4.1bn) towards its €5bn target for a new buy-out fund.