Secondaries Investor’s Second Thoughts

Do LPs need to take a more proactive approach to secondaries?

Delights and gripes relating to the continuation fund market were shared at PEI Group's NEXUS 2025 conference. A critical question was raised: do LPs need to take a more proactive approach to secondaries?

In one of the panels, Jeremy Coller, founder of Coller Capital, encouraged LPs to do just that – proactively manage their exposure as more GPs mull CVs for assets they want to hold longer regardless of their 'limited' status. For LPs like the New York City Retirement Systems, however, the preferred status quo option when faced with a CV opportunity is to "do nothing", according to Eneasz Kądziela, deputy chief investment officer and head of private equity.

In this episode, Secondaries Investor editor Madeleine Farman, senior editor Adam Le and Americas correspondent Hannah Zhang discuss their top secondaries takeaways from NEXUS, particularly the top concerns for LPs on both the sell-side and the buy-side of the secondaries market.

How specialised can the secondaries market get?

This episode is sponsored by Evercore, Davis Polk and Dawson Partners

The secondaries market sits at a crossroads. Never before have LPs been presented with such an array of different liquidity offerings to back. There are specialised secondaries funds focusing on healthcare, on impact investing, on real assets in Asia or on acquiring direct minority equity stakes in companies in India. There are funds focusing on writing large cheques to multi-billion-dollar single-asset continuation funds; and there are funds focusing on making late primary commitments to buyout funds that are still in their fundraising mode. In short, if you’re an LP looking to back a secondaries fund, you’re spoiled for choice.

In this special episode, we sit down with Nigel Dawn, global head of Evercore's Private Capital Advisory group; Leor Landa, head of the investment management practice at Davis Polk; and Yann Robard, managing partner at Dawson Partners. We discuss why the performance of continuation funds is key to the further growth and branching out of this part of the market, and why the market is undergoing the fastest pace of innovation it has ever seen.

A record year for secondaries volume, but not for bonuses

How does your compensation this year compare with that of your peers?

In this episode, Secondaries Investor editor Madeleine Farman sits down with Kylie Hart, co-founder and Partner at global executive search firm Norgay Partners.

From her vantage point as an expert in private equity secondaries recruitment, Hart gives an overview of market compensation on both the buy-side and the sell-side following a record year for secondaries activity in 2024.

The pair also discuss the differences in pay between secondaries and private equity strategies, the outlook for people moves following a flurry of activity to kickstart the year, appetite from private markets firms to launch secondaries strategies, how to approach career growth through mid-level and senior-level ranks, and much more.

Behind the numbers for secondaries' record year

The secondaries market saw another record year for deal volume, with advisory reports pinning the overall figures somewhere between $152 billion and $165 billion.

In this episode, Secondaries Investor editor Madeleine Farman, senior reporter Hannah Zhang and reporter Silas Sloan dig into advisory reports. They walk through key themes that emerged, including the rising impact of evergreen capital and its effects on deal activity to date, the increasing scale of GP-led deals, the increasing scale of the buyer universe, right through to predictions on LP-led and GP-led activity for the year ahead.

Read more at Secondaries Investor:

• Single-asset deals skyrocketed in 2024 – Campbell Lutyens
• Secondaries volume hits record high of $160bn – Evercore
• LP-led pricing for credit secondaries reaches all-time high – Jefferies
• Majority of GPs plan to use secondaries market over coming two-year period – PJT

• Share of commitments for GP-led deals to grow in 2025 – Lazard

Secondaries deals are on the cards for Australia's Aware Super

Australian superannuation fund Aware Super is heading towards its private markets allocation targets after a period of build-up and growth.

The fund, which manages around $110 billion on behalf of nurses and teachers, launched its first office outside of Australia in 2023, putting boots on the ground in London.

Damien Webb, the superfund’s deputy chief investment officer and head of international, sat down with PEI senior editor Adam Le. In a wide-ranging interview, the pair discuss how GP-leds are complementary with the skills Aware Super has built out around co-investment, Webb’s views on LP-led secondaries as its alternatives portfolio becomes more mature, and his views on pricing and discounts in the market.

Le and Webb also discuss Aware Super’s views for further international expansion and whether the team has been making any private markets asset allocation shifts over time where opportunities arise.

The next record-setting year

The secondaries market is bullish that 2025 will be another record year for secondaries market activity. Regionally, North America is set to continue its dominance in dealmaking, Europe is expected to throw up interesting opportunities that offer portfolio diversification, and increasing manager sophistication could lead to more GP-led opportunities in APAC.

In this episode, Secondaries Investor's Adam Le, Madeleine Farman and Silas Sloan discuss the secondaries market's volume expectations for the year ahead and delve into key topics making rounds in the market, from US president-elect Donald Trump, to the impact of evergreen funds on the market and APAC's hottest markets in the wake of uncertainty surrounding China.

Read more:

• Trump looms large for North American secondaries in 2025

• Why APAC secondaries will remain buoyed in 2025

Peeling back the onion on 2024 – literally

It's common to peel back the onion on key events and trends seen across financial markets. As the secondaries market heads for what is predicted to be a record-setting year for volume, we decided to practice the phrase quite literally.

Madeleine Farman, senior reporter and host of the Second Thoughts, and senior editor Adam Le are joined by Carlo Pirzio-Biroli, head of CVC Secondary Partners, and Ted Cardos, co-head of Kirkland & Ellis's European liquidity solutions team, with the group letting a basket of onions decide the talking points.

Pirzio-Biroli and Cardos discuss key wins, disappointments and developments over the course of 2024 and what the next 12 months could bring for the secondaries market.

Tail-end secondaries: The $900bn+ opportunity

The opportunity set for the tail-end secondaries market has grown from $198 billion 10 years ago to $916 billion today, according to estimates from legacy specialist Hollyport Capital.

In this episode, John Carter, managing partner and chief executive of Hollyport, and Etienne Deshormes, managing partner and CEO of private markets adviser Elm Capital, join senior reporter Madeleine Farman for a discussion on the topic.

The three discuss the structural drivers of the tail-end secondaries market, how to approach due diligence in this part of the market, which institutions are more likely to sell a tail-end secondaries portfolio, whether new entrants will enter into this space, and the long-term outlook for this growing segment of the secondaries market.