Distressed debt fundraising so far this year has already outpaced the tally for all of 2006, as high leverage levels and sub-prime downgrades create doubts about the credit markets.

Dow Jones's Private Equity Analyst found that distressed-debt firms raised $23.7bn (€17.8bn) in the first six months of 2007, which is the highest volume of fundraising in any full year to date.