Lake Capital, a transatlantic private equity firm, has raised its first fund in record time, securing $500m (€471m) of commitments to spend in the business services sector.

Lake Capital has had commitments from institutional investors since its conception in 1998, but they invested on an individual basis. Lake Capital raised its debut fund in only six months last year with the help of Credit Suisse First Boston as a placement agent. Investors were predominantly from the US, and a "significant percentage" were from Europe.