Private equity (PE) firm Blue Ridge has raised a $1.45 billion fund for investment in companies in China, as buyout firms target Asia at a time when a global credit crunch is hampering big deals in Europe and the United States. Blue Ridge China said in a statement that it wanted to invest in areas such as energy, retail, real estate, technology and consumer products.

The firm had spent most of a $300 million fund it raised in May 2006, it said, including teaming up with Equity International to buy a stake in homebuilder Xinyuan Real Estate.

"We provide strong financial backing to companies we invest in and we also provide strategic guidance to enable them to become market leaders," Blue Ridge China co-founder Justin Tang said in the statement.

Blue Ridge, which has invested in more than $7.5 billion worth of assets globally, is one of several global private equity investors targeting the fast growing economies of China and India.

On Tuesday, JPMorgan said it had set up a new Asia private equity team to spend an initial $750 million.

Asia's loan markets grew fast last year, as bond markets clammed up, allowing funds run by the likes of Morgan Stanley, Blackstone Group LP and Carlyle Group to ratchet up their investments.

But in a region where full-scale buyouts are often frowned upon and are difficult because families are still the main players in business, funds have had to settle mostly for taking minority stakes.