Bangalore:Blackstone Group will raise $15 billion which will be one of the largest raised in history of private equity fund.It is a rise from the $13.5 billion figure Blackstone previously disclosed. "Considering that we started raising that after the meltdown, when there was essentially no fund-raising in the industry, and we got to a fund size of close on $15 billion by the time we're done, it is a remarkable accomplishment," said COO Tony James, speaking at a conference in New York. A slide on the company's website to accompany James' presentation said Blackstone raised over $14 billion for the fund, called BCP VI. In the presentation, James said the number will end up close to $15 billion. It contrasts with its giant fifth fund, BCP V, a $21.7 Billion monster it finished fund-raising in the summer of 2007, which is invested in companies such as Nielsen, Freescale Semiconductor and Hilton Hotels. While the new fund is smaller, the previous one was raised over a period of three years, James said. "I think at $15 billion, it's still one of the top 5 or 6 funds in history and raised in a very difficult environment," said James. Private equity fund-raising fell off a cliff after the credit crisis and is slowly recovering, but it is not back to the levels of 2005-2007. "I think you'll see a lot of private equity funds having an extremely difficult time coming back with funds the same size," James said