German media funds raised Euros 1.5bn from private investorslast year, 15% less than 2003's total of Euros 1.76bn, according to a marketanalysis by fund specialist Stefan Loipfinger's Fondstelegramm.

For the first time this year, the analysis showed where theGerman private equity was being invested and fuelled the criticism that themedia funds invest almost exclusively in US projects. Examples of films include: Paul McGuigan's Lucky Number Slevin, Steven Zaillian's AllThe King's Men, The Matador and Greg Glienna's family comedy RelativeStrangers.

Loipfinger's research showed that around four of every fiveEuros (78%) was channelled into North American-based productions, with 11%taken by projects shooting in Europe outside of Germany, and only 10% by productionsbased in Germany.

According to Fondstelegramm, Munich-based VIP led the fieldof 2004's top fund placements with Euros 411m and a market share of 16%,followed by Hannover HL Leasing (Euros 317m), LHI Leasing (Euros 193m) andALCAS (Euros 123m).