Key Takeaways
- • Private equity secondaries market reached a record $160 billion in deal volume in 2024, with Blackstone's head of secondaries projecting growth to $220 billion in 2025—a nearly 40% year-over-year increase driven by institutional investor demand for liquidity.
- • Blackstone's secondaries business manages $87 billion in assets under management, representing the largest dedicated platform in the sector, with leadership predicting continued expansion regardless of macroeconomic conditions given the structural growth of private markets.
- • Major institutions including Harvard and Yale are increasingly turning to secondaries markets to raise cash, signaling institutional adoption as a core liquidity mechanism rather than a niche strategy.
- • First-quarter 2025 secondaries activity reached approximately $45 billion despite being historically the slowest quarter, indicating sustained momentum in the market and suggesting elevated institutional motivations to liquidate positions.
- • Business Insider compiled a curated list of 14 top dealmakers across major platforms including Blackstone, Ares, and Ardian specializing in private equity secondaries, with professionals managing strategies spanning private equity, real estate, and infrastructure investments.
Summary
Private equity secondaries—the market for buying and selling existing stakes in private funds—has emerged as an unexpected beneficiary of current macroeconomic uncertainty, reaching a record $160 billion in transaction volume during 2024. Verdun Perry, head of Blackstone's $87 billion secondary investing business, projects the market will expand to $220 billion in 2025, representing growth of nearly 40% year-over-year. This expansion reflects a structural shift in how large institutional investors, including Harvard and Yale, are accessing liquidity in an increasingly illiquid asset class.
The acceleration in secondary activity stems from multiple converging factors. Institutional investors face extended dry spells in fund distributions, with Perry noting that more than three years of "relatively slow" distribution cycles have motivated substantial seller activity. Simultaneously, the explosive growth of private markets capital over recent decades has created a vastly larger universe of fund stakes available for secondary transactions. Individual secondary deals valued at $1 billion to $2 billion are now routine occurrences, compared to twenty-five years ago when the entire market would struggle to clear that volume annually.
Market participants expect the growth trajectory to persist independent of macroeconomic headwinds. First-quarter 2025 results, typically the slowest period for secondaries activity, generated approximately $45 billion in transactions, underscoring robust institutional demand. Perry attributed this resilience to fundamental structural drivers within private markets rather than cyclical considerations, suggesting the secondaries market has matured into a core institutional liquidity mechanism.
Business Insider identified 14 leading dealmakers operating across specialized secondaries platforms and megafunds alike. These professionals represent firms ranging from large diversified platforms such as Blackstone and Ares to dedicated secondaries specialists including Ardian. The identified dealmakers invest across multiple alternative asset classes—private equity, real estate, and infrastructure—reflecting the diversification of secondary opportunities beyond traditional buyout fund stakes.
The acceleration in secondary activity stems from multiple converging factors. Institutional investors face extended dry spells in fund distributions, with Perry noting that more than three years of "relatively slow" distribution cycles have motivated substantial seller activity. Simultaneously, the explosive growth of private markets capital over recent decades has created a vastly larger universe of fund stakes available for secondary transactions. Individual secondary deals valued at $1 billion to $2 billion are now routine occurrences, compared to twenty-five years ago when the entire market would struggle to clear that volume annually.
Market participants expect the growth trajectory to persist independent of macroeconomic headwinds. First-quarter 2025 results, typically the slowest period for secondaries activity, generated approximately $45 billion in transactions, underscoring robust institutional demand. Perry attributed this resilience to fundamental structural drivers within private markets rather than cyclical considerations, suggesting the secondaries market has matured into a core institutional liquidity mechanism.
Business Insider identified 14 leading dealmakers operating across specialized secondaries platforms and megafunds alike. These professionals represent firms ranging from large diversified platforms such as Blackstone and Ares to dedicated secondaries specialists including Ardian. The identified dealmakers invest across multiple alternative asset classes—private equity, real estate, and infrastructure—reflecting the diversification of secondary opportunities beyond traditional buyout fund stakes.
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