GI Partners, the Anglo-American private equity group, was to announce on Monday it has raised a new $1.9bn fund, a quarter less than its target, but a sign that investors are still backing buy-out groups with solid records.

Almost all the money was raised before Lehman Brothers collapsed last year, when many investors stopped signing new cheques, according to GI, which has invested in pubs and caravan parks in the UK and vineyards and television studios in the US.