A dearth of new buyouts? Check. Deal implosions? Yep. Tight credit? Unfortunately so.

Ergo, a private-equity slump, right? Not so fast.

It turns out the buyout kings don't have reason to hang their crowns up just yet. According to a pair of studies this week, money is still flowing into private-equity funds at a healthy clip, and their managers continue to make windfalls from exiting their investments.

Or they did in 2007, anyway. Ernst & Young's annual study of private-equity value creation was released this morning, and the takeaway for 2007 seems to be much the same as it was in the 2006 and 2005 studies: Private-equity owners create more value than their public counterparts.

Hear that, potential E&Y private-equity clients?

The report looked at the 100 biggest global private-equity exits in 2007. Three were in Asia and Australia, 53 were in Europe, and 44 were in North America. The objective was to measure how much value the portfolio managers created in the companies they bought, including metrics such as earnings growth and productivity.  

The results aren't really surprising. After all, the first half of 2007 was a great time to exit a portfolio investment made, on average, three and a half years earlier. But the study doesn't differentiate the results from the first half of the year to the second half.

Here's what did happen, according to the study: P.E. exits in Germany showed more growth in value than any other geographical area; deals under $1 billion outperformed their public counterparts better than those over $1 billion; and private-equity firms had better luck buying private companies than taking publicly traded companies private.

In fact, a big exit strategy for private-equity-backed companies in 2007 was to sell them to other private-equity firms. In North America, 47 percent of the biggest exits came from secondary buyouts, versus 27 percent in 2006.  

One man's trash is another man's treasure, or so they say.

It's clear that the 2008 E&Y study will paint an entirely different picture (but rest assured it will still conclude that private equity creates value). The M&A market has slowed to a crawl, and the I.P.O. market is nearly nonexistent.

The report's authors suggest that the industry spread its wings a bit to take on more opportunities in sectors like mining, energy, and financial services. They predict secondary buyouts will continue to increase, and sovereign wealth funds will become a stronger presence as exit sources.

Instead of exiting investments this year, the industry seems to be focused on raising more money. According to data tracked by Dow Jones' Private Equity Analyst, buyout firms and their funds raised $132.7 billion during the first half of this year, down just 3 percent from the same period last year. Fundraising in Europe outpaced that in the U.S.

They may as well get it while the getting's still good. Pension funds and endowments are still eager for places to park their cash. Besides, fund managers can use 2007's glowing figures to make their sales pitches.

As for where all that money will end up invested, it's anyone's guess at this point. But these are financiers who can make 2 percent fees without even investing that money for years if they want. 

What's not to love about that?