Wall Street just created the largest buyout fund ever

SeongJoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Leon Black, chairman and chief executive officer of Apollo Global Management LLC

Apollo Global Management has raised $23.5 billion, creating the largest buyout fund ever.

On Tuesday, Dow Jones reported, citing sources, that Apollo will soon close the fund.

The private equity firm had no comment to CNBC on the timing of the closing. However, back in April CNBC reported, according to people familiar with the situation, that Apollo hoped to raise more than $23 billion in a fund it was marketing to investors. Apollo confirmed the amount in a May 26 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the new fund.

When the fund closes, it will surpass Blackstone’s fund raise of nearly $22 billion in 2007, which was near the top of the previous bull market.

Private equity fund raising has been on a tear, reaching a record $1.5 trillion in dry powder across all such firms globally, according to a February report from Bain.

However, private equity firms were slow to deploy their capital at the start of this year. Buyout firms closed only one transaction valued at more than $2.5 billion in the first three months of this year, while strategic acquirers closed 20 deals of that size or more, Pitchbook said.

In the last few months, delays on the Trump administration’s promised tax reform has slowed purchases of U.S. firms. Some analysts say the political uncertainty could give private equity firms an opportunity to make some deals.