Private equity firms sold 623 company investments with a combined value of $49.9 billion in the first quarter, according to a report by Preqin.
That was down from the 677 transactions with a combined value of $67 billion in the previous quarter, but up from nearly 500 deals valued at almost $150 billion for the year-earlier quarter.
At the same time, private equity firms exited 254 investments valued at a combined $77.2 billion, compared to about 300 deals with a combined value of more than $80 billion in the previous quarter and about 160 deals valued at more than $40 billion in the first quarter of last year.
In a separate report, Preqin found that two infrastructure funds closed in the first quarter, down from the seven funds that raised $2.2 billion in the prior quarter and seven funds that raised $7.5 billion in the first quarter of 2010.
The two infrastructure funds were the C$460 million (US$477 million) Fiera Axium Infrastructure Canada and the US$100 million NK Energy Real I.
One infrastructure fund of funds, the $500 million Partners Group Global Infrastructure 2009, also closed in the first quarter.
Some 131 infrastructure funds are attempting to raise a combined target of $92.1 billion as of the first quarter, which is the third successive quarterly increase in the number of funds and total capital being raised, Preqin noted. The largest of these funds is Global Infrastructure Partners II, which has a target of between $5 billion and $6 billion.
Infrastructure managers closed 30 deals in the first quarter, down from the 70 transactions in the prior quarter and 50 in the first quarter of 2010.
