Carlyle, the American private equity group, has ruled out floating its shares this year amid continued turmoil in financial markets.

Sources close to the company said it remained unconvinced that a listing is now the right option.

It is understood that Carlyle will closely monitor the success or otherwise of its competitors' forays into the public markets before reaching a final conclusion.

David Rubenstein, Carlyle's co-founder and managing director, is understood to be nervous of entering markets while there is such a state of uncertainty.

Blackstone, the world's largest private equity group listed earlier this year at $31, but the shares have consistently traded below the issue price. Last night Blackstone closed at $23.51.

Blackstone is to be followed by Apollo, which has chosen a special share listing platform run by Goldman Sachs rather than a full public quotation for its shares. This will provide liquidity for investors wishing to trade Apollo shares, while leaving it largely untouched by the more onerous disclosure requirements imposed on a fully public company.

Earlier this month Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, another large US private equity group, signalled that it planned to press ahead with its float despite adverse conditions in both the equity and debt markets.

Although KKR has not commited to a date for a listing, and may yet alter its plans, it said in June that its planned to raise $1.25 billion from an offering of some of its shares.

Separately, Carlyle has pledged a $100 million loan to help its Amsterdam listed fund, Carlyle Capital Corp, meet margin calls in the face of tumbling securities markets.

Although almost all of the underlying assets in the Carlyle fund are AAA-rated mortgage backed securities, the fair value of these instruments has fallen due to the slump in demand John Stomber, the chief executive, said.

“The Carlyle Group’s loan commitment enhances our ability to meet margin calls and positions us to take advantage of new opportunities as they present themselves,” Mr Stomber said.

The unsecured loan will have a 10 per cent interest rate and will be subordinated to the company’s other debt. The fund has already drawn $10 million of the loan, it said.

In an interview, Mr Rubenstein told Sueddeutsche Zeitung that Carlyle wants to invest “aggressively” in Germany, although he declined to be drawn on the specifics of projects and investment levels.

“Germany is one of the best countries for private equity-investment. Every investment has here turned out to be profitable for us,” he told the newspaper.

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