Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst Reports First Decline in U.S. Fund-Raising Since 2003 as Mega Funds See Delays & LPs Look Overseas; European Fund-Raising Up 16% NEW YORK, July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite woes in the buyout market, private equity fund-raising continues to hold its ground. In the first six months of 2008, U.S. private equity firms raised $132.7 billion across 185 funds, 3% shy of the $137.2 billion raised by 199 funds during the first half of 2007, according to industry newsletter Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst. The full-year fund-raising record is $313 billion, which was set in 2007. "For first time since 2003, we've seen year-over-year fund-raising actually decline as some of the bigger firms -- Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, and Madison Dearborn Partners -- ran into delays raising capital for their latest buyout funds," said Jennifer Rossa, managing editor of Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst. Leveraged buyout (LBO) fund-raising declined 20% compared to the same period last year as firms raised only $85.5 billion across 75 funds in the first half of 2008, down from $107.6 billion raised in 91 funds. Seven "mega firms," defined as firms raising funds of $6 billion or larger, raised $36.6 billion, only a bit below the $37.4 billion raised by eight mega firms last year. "The weakness in the buyout industry, however, has been offset by strong fund-raising by mezzanine funds and a decent showing by venture capital funds," added Ms. Rossa. U.S. Private Equity Fundraising, 1H08 v. 1H07 1H2008 1H2007 No. of Funds Amounts (MM) No. of Funds Amounts (MM) Buyout/Corporate Finance 75 $85,542 91 $107,574 Mezzanine 7 $24,021 6 $2,300 Venture Capital 72 $11,504 62 $10,018 Funds of Funds 20 $8,067 32 $11,680 Secondary & Other 11 $3,608 8 $5,658 TOTAL 185 $132,742 199 $137,230 According to Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst, mezzanine fund-raising set a new first half record with $24 billion raised by seven firms, thanks almost entirely to Goldman Sachs Capital Partners' record $20 billion GS Mezzanine Partners V LP fund, which includes $7 billion of leverage. Meanwhile, venture capital fund-raising increased by 15% to $11.5 billion raised by 72 funds from $10 billion raised by 62 funds last year. Warburg Pincus LLC closed the largest buyout fund of the first half with its $15 billion Warburg Pincus Private Equity X LP. The largest venture capital fund belonged to Lightspeed Venture Partners, which raised $800 million for its Lightspeed Venture Partners VIII LP fund. Investment in European Funds Rises 16% European private equity firms saw an upswing in investment in the first half of 2008, the newsletter reported, with nearly $61.1 billion invested in 80 funds, a 16% increase over the $52.5 billion invested in 81 funds during the same period last year. Buyout funds accounted for $54.8 billion, or nearly 90% of Europe's fund-raising total. "The differing fortunes of European private equity funds are an indication that limited partners are shifting some attention away from the U.S., where the economy is seen as particularly weak and where many of LPs are over-concentrated," said Ms. Rossa. For more information about Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst, to view a sample issue or to subscribe, visit http://www.privateequity.dowjones.com/ or call (877) 522-8663. ABOUT DOW JONES Dow Jones & Company (http://www.dowjones.com/) is a subsidiary of News Corporation (NYSE: NWS, NWS.A; ASX: NWS, NWSLV; http://www.newscorp.com/). Dow Jones is a leading provider of global business news and information services. Its Consumer Media Group publishes The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch and the Far Eastern Economic Review. Its Enterprise Media Group includes Dow Jones Newswires, Factiva, Dow Jones Client Solutions, Dow Jones Indexes and Dow Jones Financial Information Services. Its Local Media Group operates community-based information franchises. Dow Jones owns 50% of SmartMoney and 33% of Stoxx Ltd. and provides news content radio stations in the U.S. DATASOURCE: Dow Jones CONTACT: Adam Wade, Dow Jones Financial Information Services, +1-415-439-6666, Web site: http://www.dowjones.com/ http://www.privateequity.dowjones.com/ http://www.newscorp.com/

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