Key Takeaways
- • Global secondaries deal value surged 45% to a record $162 billion in 2024, driven by major asset managers including Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, Lexington Partners, and Ardian, yet Africa remains significantly underrepresented in this growth.
- • Africa's secondary market is constrained by a limited pool of international buyers, few dedicated local secondary funds, and the dominance of development finance institutions that have historically resisted selling assets on secondary markets.
- • Transaction sizes in Africa remain too small to attract offshore buyers; the continent requires substantial private sector growth and multiple large sellers to generate deal flow that justifies participation by international secondary specialists.
- • Only a handful of local funds actively operate in African secondaries, compared to mature markets in Asia and other regions, creating a structural bottleneck in deal activity.
- • Experts project that African secondary market financing could rise to 40–50% of total capital market activity by 2029, up from approximately 20–30% in 2024, indicating early momentum despite current limitations.
Summary
Africa's private equity secondary market remains nascent relative to global benchmarks, according to research published by the Global Private Capital Association in August 2025. While global secondaries—transactions where investors purchase existing private equity or venture capital assets from other investors—reached a record $162 billion in 2024, representing 45% growth, Africa's participation in this boom has been muted. The secondary market represents a critical maturation stage for private capital ecosystems, yet structural constraints unique to the continent have limited deal flow and investor participation.
The GPCA report identifies three primary headwinds constraining African secondaries activity. First, a scarcity of dedicated secondary funds operates at both local and international levels; few international buyers have established a presence, and only a limited number of African-based specialists focus exclusively on secondary transactions. Second, the capital base of African private equity funds remains heavily dominated by development finance institutions, whose mandates and historical practices have discouraged secondary market participation. Third, and critically, transaction sizes remain too modest to attract international secondary buyers whose capital deployment requires sufficient deal scale to justify operational overhead and due diligence costs.
Richard Okello, co-founder of Sango Capital, an African private equity and venture capital investor, articulated the structural challenge: for non-African buyers to participate meaningfully in African secondaries, "the transaction size has to make sense, which means you need lots of sellers willing to sell large chunks." This observation underscores a chicken-and-egg dynamic—deal activity will not accelerate until the private sector generates sufficient assets under management and investor exits to create an attractive seller base. Jeff Schlapinski, GPCA's managing director of research, echoed this assessment, noting that accelerating secondary fund formation in Africa requires "continued private sector growth so that there is a wealth of different opportunities for investors to pursue."
Despite current limitations, forward-looking indicators suggest nascent momentum. Industry projections indicate that African secondary market financing could represent 40–50% of total capital market activity by 2029, compared to 20–30% in 2024. This trajectory reflects growing recognition among institutional investors that Africa's demographic and economic fundamentals present long-term private capital opportunities, and that secondary markets will play an increasingly important role in improving liquidity and attracting institutional capital to the region.
The GPCA report identifies three primary headwinds constraining African secondaries activity. First, a scarcity of dedicated secondary funds operates at both local and international levels; few international buyers have established a presence, and only a limited number of African-based specialists focus exclusively on secondary transactions. Second, the capital base of African private equity funds remains heavily dominated by development finance institutions, whose mandates and historical practices have discouraged secondary market participation. Third, and critically, transaction sizes remain too modest to attract international secondary buyers whose capital deployment requires sufficient deal scale to justify operational overhead and due diligence costs.
Richard Okello, co-founder of Sango Capital, an African private equity and venture capital investor, articulated the structural challenge: for non-African buyers to participate meaningfully in African secondaries, "the transaction size has to make sense, which means you need lots of sellers willing to sell large chunks." This observation underscores a chicken-and-egg dynamic—deal activity will not accelerate until the private sector generates sufficient assets under management and investor exits to create an attractive seller base. Jeff Schlapinski, GPCA's managing director of research, echoed this assessment, noting that accelerating secondary fund formation in Africa requires "continued private sector growth so that there is a wealth of different opportunities for investors to pursue."
Despite current limitations, forward-looking indicators suggest nascent momentum. Industry projections indicate that African secondary market financing could represent 40–50% of total capital market activity by 2029, compared to 20–30% in 2024. This trajectory reflects growing recognition among institutional investors that Africa's demographic and economic fundamentals present long-term private capital opportunities, and that secondary markets will play an increasingly important role in improving liquidity and attracting institutional capital to the region.
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