Leveraged buyout lender American Capital Strategies priced a $157m (€107.1m) share offering to raise more capital, as credit remains scarce and overall private equity mergers plummeted 72% in the third quarter.

American Capital Strategies, which lends money to private equity firms for mid-sized buyouts, priced four million shares at $39.43 each through joint book-running managers Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns and UBS.