Key Takeaways
- • Secondary private equity transaction volume reached $240 billion in 2025, a 48% increase from $162 billion in 2024, marking record-breaking growth driven by structural market tailwinds rather than cyclical factors.
- • Private markets NAV has nearly doubled from $7.4 trillion in 2019 to $14.5 trillion by end of 2024, yet secondaries transactions represent only 1-2% of total private markets NAV, indicating significant untapped opportunity for secondary investors.
- • GP-led secondary transactions have emerged as a major liquidity tool across private markets, expanding the investment opportunity set and diversifying the secondary market's deal pipeline beyond traditional LP-to-LP transactions.
- • For asset allocators, secondary investments offer return enhancement, portfolio diversification, and improved liquidity management within private markets programs, with manager selection identified as a critical factor for generating alpha in this complex market.
- • The secondary market's structural expansion is underpinned by sustained growth in private equity assets under management, creating an ever-expanding pool of assets with secondary market potential despite significant headroom for market penetration.
Summary
The secondary private equity market has entered a transformational phase characterized by unprecedented scale and structural permanence. According to Neuberger Berman's analysis, the market generated $240 billion in transaction volume during 2025, representing a substantial 48% surge from the prior year's $162 billion in volume. This trajectory reflects not temporary cyclical strength but rather durable, long-term forces reshaping the private markets landscape.
The underlying driver of this expansion is the exponential growth in private equity assets under management. Combined NAV in private market funds reached $14.5 trillion by the end of 2024, nearly doubling from $7.4 trillion in 2019. This asset base expansion has created a vastly larger pool of potential secondary investment opportunities. Notably, despite the secondary market's approximate fourfold growth since 2014, secondary transactions currently represent only 1-2% of total private markets NAV, suggesting significant untapped opportunity as the market continues to mature and allocators become more sophisticated in deploying capital across the secondaries landscape.
A structural shift in transaction composition has also enhanced market dynamics. GP-led secondary transactions—in which general partners facilitate secondary sales or restructurings—have become a major liquidity management tool across private markets. This development has diversified the opportunity set beyond traditional LP-to-LP transactions and created more consistent deal flow for secondary investors with relevant expertise and relationships.
For institutional asset allocators, secondaries now represent a compelling avenue for return enhancement, portfolio diversification, and liquidity optimization within broader private markets allocations. However, Neuberger Berman emphasizes that success in this complex market depends heavily on manager selection. The ability to generate alpha in secondaries is contingent on relationships, operational experience, and rigorous underwriting capabilities—factors that distinguish top-tier secondary managers from competitors in what remains a relationship-intensive segment of alternative asset management.
The underlying driver of this expansion is the exponential growth in private equity assets under management. Combined NAV in private market funds reached $14.5 trillion by the end of 2024, nearly doubling from $7.4 trillion in 2019. This asset base expansion has created a vastly larger pool of potential secondary investment opportunities. Notably, despite the secondary market's approximate fourfold growth since 2014, secondary transactions currently represent only 1-2% of total private markets NAV, suggesting significant untapped opportunity as the market continues to mature and allocators become more sophisticated in deploying capital across the secondaries landscape.
A structural shift in transaction composition has also enhanced market dynamics. GP-led secondary transactions—in which general partners facilitate secondary sales or restructurings—have become a major liquidity management tool across private markets. This development has diversified the opportunity set beyond traditional LP-to-LP transactions and created more consistent deal flow for secondary investors with relevant expertise and relationships.
For institutional asset allocators, secondaries now represent a compelling avenue for return enhancement, portfolio diversification, and liquidity optimization within broader private markets allocations. However, Neuberger Berman emphasizes that success in this complex market depends heavily on manager selection. The ability to generate alpha in secondaries is contingent on relationships, operational experience, and rigorous underwriting capabilities—factors that distinguish top-tier secondary managers from competitors in what remains a relationship-intensive segment of alternative asset management.
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