Key Takeaways
- • Secondary deal volume for private assets reached a record $226 billion in 2025, representing a 41% year-over-year increase, according to Evercore Inc.'s report released Friday.
- • The market has diversified beyond traditional leveraged buyouts, with private credit secondaries hitting record fundraising levels and sustained expansion in infrastructure and venture capital secondaries.
- • Growth is driven by structural innovation in deal design and sustained investor demand for liquidity, signaling deepening sophistication in the secondaries market.
- • Approximately $215–$216 billion in dry powder remains among secondaries buyers, positioning the market for continued deployment momentum into 2026.
Summary
The private secondaries market reached an inflection point in 2025, with transaction volume surging 41% year-over-year to $226 billion, according to Evercore Inc.'s latest market review. This record volume reflects both a maturing buyer base and structural evolution within the market as investors pursue creative deal structures to meet sustained liquidity demands across their portfolios.
The expansion extends well beyond the market's traditional core of leveraged buyout secondaries. Private credit secondaries achieved record fundraising and activity levels, while infrastructure and venture capital secondaries continued their multi-year expansion, demonstrating market participants' appetite to diversify secondary exposures across asset classes. This broadening of the market—historically concentrated in LBO secondaries—signals growing institutional acceptance of secondaries strategies beyond classic buyout fund secondary sales.
The underlying drivers reflect both supply and demand dynamics. On the supply side, innovation in deal structuring has lowered barriers to entry and created new mechanisms for limited partners and managers to execute secondary transactions. On the demand side, buyers remain motivated by the persistent need for cash among limited partners and fund managers managing portfolio concentration and liquidity timing. With approximately $215–$216 billion in dry powder remaining among secondaries buyers, the market appears positioned for sustained deployment activity heading into 2026, suggesting the record 2025 volume may be part of a broader secular uptrend rather than a cyclical peak.
The expansion extends well beyond the market's traditional core of leveraged buyout secondaries. Private credit secondaries achieved record fundraising and activity levels, while infrastructure and venture capital secondaries continued their multi-year expansion, demonstrating market participants' appetite to diversify secondary exposures across asset classes. This broadening of the market—historically concentrated in LBO secondaries—signals growing institutional acceptance of secondaries strategies beyond classic buyout fund secondary sales.
The underlying drivers reflect both supply and demand dynamics. On the supply side, innovation in deal structuring has lowered barriers to entry and created new mechanisms for limited partners and managers to execute secondary transactions. On the demand side, buyers remain motivated by the persistent need for cash among limited partners and fund managers managing portfolio concentration and liquidity timing. With approximately $215–$216 billion in dry powder remaining among secondaries buyers, the market appears positioned for sustained deployment activity heading into 2026, suggesting the record 2025 volume may be part of a broader secular uptrend rather than a cyclical peak.
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