The private equity secondaries market enjoyed a bumper year for fundraising in 2012 as investors increasingly looked to the asset class to generate returns.

According to data provider Preqin, secondaries funds, which buy interests in private equity funds or portfolios of companies, rather than investing in individual companies, raised a total of $18.7bn globally in 2012, up from $10.7bn in 2011. The figure is the second-highest fundraising figure for the fund type on record, surpassed only in 2009 when $22.5bn was raised.