Kohlberg Kravis Roberts has invested more than 60 per cent of its new $17.5bn global buy-out fund, which it only finished raising at the end of last year.

However, the buy-out firm, co-founded by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, is said by investors to have delayed the start of fundraising for its next fund from this year, as its investment pace has dropped sharply since the credit squeeze began last summer.