The buyout industry’s cash pile continues to erode away as firms struggle to raise new funds and the pace of deals increases, according to quarterly figures from data provider Preqin.

Buyout firms' committed but unspent capital dropped 4% in the first quarter of the year to $409bn and the figure has dropped further since - by this month it stood at $405.8bn. It is a drop of 18% from the peak of the market in December 2008, when buyout funds had $492.9bn at their disposal.