Private equity funds soliciting new investors raised $50.4 billion in the first three months of this year, marginally better than the $48 billion collected in the final quarter of 2009, but the economic climate is still proving a challenge for this asset class, figures show.

A more substantial pickup in fund-raising is, however, expected to take place in the second quarter of this year,
Preqin, the research organisation, said in a report.

The figures for the first quarter of this year compare with $76 billion raised in the same period of 2009, but are still way below the peak of $207 billion raised in the second quarter of 2007, then a boom time for the sector.

The aggregate fund-raising target has weakened to $636 billion for the second quarter of 2010, down from $691 billion in the first quarter and $889 for the first three months of 2009, the report said. In the second quarter of this year, Preqin data said there are 1,562 funds on the road, down from 1,582 in the previous three months.

The biggest fund to hold a final closing in the first quarter of this year was the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund VII Global, at $5.2 billion, followed by the Alinda Infrastructure Fund II, at $4.1 billion, then the Triton Fund III, a buyout fund, at €2.3 billion (around $3.04 billion).