In the past 18 months, bankers and lawyers have noted a significant uptick in demand for equity bridge facilities – a type of short-term credit line traditionally used by funds to bridge the gap between purchasing an asset and calling down cash from investors – but borrowers are finding more strategic ways to put these facilities to use.

There is no official data that measures the take-up of these facilities, but the rate of new fundraising activities is a useful proxy. Some 303 first-time funds were raised in 2014 - the most in three years, according to data provider Preqin. Meanwhile, a record 2,235 funds were on the road raising capital at the start of 2015, the fifth consecutive year of growth.