The Carlyle Group, the alternative asset manager with over $107.6bn under management, paid out the most investment banking fees for the second half-year period running, as buyout firms start to account for an increasing proportion of investment banking fees.

In the first half of 2011, the US firm stumped up $392m of fees for activities across equity capital markets, debt capital markets, M&A and loan transactions globally, having also topped the rankings in the second half of 2010 when it paid out £334m, according to data provider Dealogic.