European private equity shop CVC Capital Partners had an initial close for its fourth Asian fund this week, raising $2 billion from investors for what should ultimately end up being a $3.5 billion fund, people familiar with the matter said.

Private equity firms typically raise money in stages, also known as "closes" on the fund. CVC expects to wrap up fundraising early next year, with the aim of bringing in $3.3 billion from investors and the rest from internal contributions. CVC's fundraising comes at a time when private equity firms are sitting on record amounts of unspent money: private equity research firm Preqin estimates the firms have some $120 billion of money yet to be invested in Asia.