A total of 124 new private equity funds were established in 2009, raising a total of $18.814 billion, marking the first decline since 2005, reports China Securities Journal, citing data published by Zero2IPO, a service provider for the venture capital and private equity industry.

Compared with 2008, the number of new funds established and the amount of funds raised declined by 25.3 percent and 72.4 percent respectively.

In 2009, 105 yuan-denominated funds were set up and raised $12.295 billion. This compares with the establishment of 19 dollar-denominated funds which raised $6.519 billion. 

Yuan-denominated funds raised an average of $118 million in 2009 while dollar-denominated funds raised an average of $343 million. 

There were a total of 12 yuan-denominated funds with a size of more than one billion yuan. On the other hand, there were 14 dollar-denominated funds with a size of more than $200 million.