Key Takeaways
- • Configure Partners launched a dedicated secondary-advisory group, entering a competitive market where investment banks and specialized advisory firms are rapidly expanding their secondaries capabilities in response to GP-led and LP-led transaction growth.
- • The secondary market demonstrated resilience in 2023, reaching $110 billion in volume—the second-highest annual total on record—with narrowed bid-ask spreads and continued acceptance of continuation vehicles as viable exit mechanisms supporting deal flow.
- • Secondary market dry powder remains robust as traditional and non-traditional investors build out dedicated secondaries capabilities, with several mega-fund platforms raising over $20 billion each in recent fundraising cycles.
- • The expansion reflects an "advisory arms race" among financial institutions responding to accelerating GP-led secondaries activity, with placement agents and investment banks systematically adding specialized secondaries advisory talent to capture advisory fee opportunities.
- • Q1 2024 activity signals sustained momentum in secondary transactions with multiple significant GP-led and LP-led deals in the market, positioning secondary advisory as a core growth vector for financial advisory platforms.
Summary
Configure Partners has launched a dedicated secondary-advisory group, joining a growing cohort of investment banks and advisory platforms formalizing their presence in the rapidly expanding secondary private markets. The move reflects intensifying competition for advisory mandates as the secondary market matures and transaction volumes accelerate.
The secondary market fundamentals support this expansion. According to Stifel's Private Capital Advisory Secondary Market Overview, the secondary market reached $110 billion in transaction volume in 2023, marking the second-highest volume year on record. This growth was driven by robust activity across both GP-led and LP-led segments, with particular strength in the second half of 2023 continuing into early 2024. Bid-ask spreads for LP-led transactions narrowed during the period, and continuation vehicles ("CVs") achieved widespread institutional acceptance as a standard exit mechanism for managing illiquid private assets—dynamics that supported consistent deal flow.
Fundraising for secondary investment platforms has also strengthened materially. Leading secondary platforms have each raised in excess of $20 billion, indicating robust institutional capital deployment into secondary opportunities. Secondary market dry powder remains substantial, and investors continue to achieve record outcomes on secondary transactions. Critically, new and non-traditional secondary investors are actively building out dedicated secondaries capabilities, further validating the market's expansion and creating advisory demand.
The advisory competitive landscape has intensified accordingly. Investment banks and placement agents including Moelis, Piper Sandler, FIRSTavenue, and Campbell Lutyens have recently expanded or formally launched dedicated secondary capital advisory teams, creating an advisory arms race driven by the commercial opportunity in GP-led and LP-led transaction structuring and placement. Configure Partners' entry into secondary advisory positions the platform alongside these competitors to capture advisory mandates and fee opportunities within a market expected to sustain upward momentum through 2024 and beyond, notwithstanding macroeconomic headwinds around inflation and interest rates.
The secondary market fundamentals support this expansion. According to Stifel's Private Capital Advisory Secondary Market Overview, the secondary market reached $110 billion in transaction volume in 2023, marking the second-highest volume year on record. This growth was driven by robust activity across both GP-led and LP-led segments, with particular strength in the second half of 2023 continuing into early 2024. Bid-ask spreads for LP-led transactions narrowed during the period, and continuation vehicles ("CVs") achieved widespread institutional acceptance as a standard exit mechanism for managing illiquid private assets—dynamics that supported consistent deal flow.
Fundraising for secondary investment platforms has also strengthened materially. Leading secondary platforms have each raised in excess of $20 billion, indicating robust institutional capital deployment into secondary opportunities. Secondary market dry powder remains substantial, and investors continue to achieve record outcomes on secondary transactions. Critically, new and non-traditional secondary investors are actively building out dedicated secondaries capabilities, further validating the market's expansion and creating advisory demand.
The advisory competitive landscape has intensified accordingly. Investment banks and placement agents including Moelis, Piper Sandler, FIRSTavenue, and Campbell Lutyens have recently expanded or formally launched dedicated secondary capital advisory teams, creating an advisory arms race driven by the commercial opportunity in GP-led and LP-led transaction structuring and placement. Configure Partners' entry into secondary advisory positions the platform alongside these competitors to capture advisory mandates and fee opportunities within a market expected to sustain upward momentum through 2024 and beyond, notwithstanding macroeconomic headwinds around inflation and interest rates.
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