Key Takeaways
- • Ardian, described as operator of the world's largest secondaries and primaries platform, closed its ninth secondaries fund in 2025 at $30 billion, the largest secondaries fund ever raised, lifting platform AUM/AUA above $102 billion.
- • EQT agreed to acquire Coller Capital for up to $3.7 billion, with closing expected in Q3 2026, reinforcing a consolidation trend in which diversified alternatives managers buy standalone secondaries specialists.
- • Goldman Sachs Asset Management completed its 2026 acquisition of venture secondaries specialist Industry Ventures, extending its Vintage Funds platform into venture and growth-stage secondaries.
- • Blackstone's Strategic Partners IX was nearly fully committed at $19.7 billion of a $22.2 billion target, and SP Infrastructure IV closed at $5.5 billion, the largest infrastructure secondaries fund to date.
- • Pantheon's Secondary Opportunities Fund II closed at $1.1 billion, nearly double its predecessor, while its third opportunistic credit secondaries program closed at $2.2 billion.
Summary
Dakota Marketplace has published a 2026 ranking of the top 10 secondaries managers globally, presenting the secondaries market as a core component of private markets allocation rather than a niche strategy. According to the guide, the market now serves allocators seeking liquidity and portfolio rebalancing, and GPs using continuation vehicles to extend their hold on high-conviction assets. Fundraising has kept pace, with the largest managers raising record flagship funds.
The guide highlights consolidation as a defining trend. Diversified alternative managers are increasingly acquiring specialists rather than building capabilities in-house, a pattern reinforced by EQT's planned acquisition of Coller Capital. The guide notes that Coller, historically known for underwriting large, complex LP portfolio transactions, holds $50 billion in AUM and $33 billion in fee-generating assets at year-end 2025, and that founder Jeremy Coller and the existing team will continue to lead the investment process.
Among the leading platforms, Ardian's ninth secondaries fund closed in 2025 at $30 billion, and the firm reported total AUM of $200 billion as of March 2026. AlpInvest Partners, Carlyle's secondaries arm, closed its eighth fund at a $15 billion hard cap in September 2025 as part of a $20 billion global raise. Blackstone Strategic Partners reported $91 billion in investor capital as of September 2025, with its infrastructure secondaries fund closing at $5.5 billion.
Several managers emphasized private credit and wealth-channel products. HarbourVest, reporting $161 billion in firmwide AUM as of December 31, 2025, closed a $1.1 billion structured solutions vehicle in January 2026. Lexington Partners, acquired by Franklin Templeton in April 2022, has seen its Franklin Lexington Private Equities Secondaries strategy top $3.5 billion in AUM within its first year. Pantheon closed its opportunistic credit secondaries program at $2.2 billion in July 2025.
The guide also profiles StepStone, which is targeting roughly $6 billion for its next flagship secondaries vehicle, and Adams Street Partners, whose Secondaries Investment Program raised more than $5 billion, anchored by Global Secondary Fund 8 at $2.7 billion. Figures in the guide are drawn from different reporting dates, so comparisons across managers should account for varying as-of dates.
The guide highlights consolidation as a defining trend. Diversified alternative managers are increasingly acquiring specialists rather than building capabilities in-house, a pattern reinforced by EQT's planned acquisition of Coller Capital. The guide notes that Coller, historically known for underwriting large, complex LP portfolio transactions, holds $50 billion in AUM and $33 billion in fee-generating assets at year-end 2025, and that founder Jeremy Coller and the existing team will continue to lead the investment process.
Among the leading platforms, Ardian's ninth secondaries fund closed in 2025 at $30 billion, and the firm reported total AUM of $200 billion as of March 2026. AlpInvest Partners, Carlyle's secondaries arm, closed its eighth fund at a $15 billion hard cap in September 2025 as part of a $20 billion global raise. Blackstone Strategic Partners reported $91 billion in investor capital as of September 2025, with its infrastructure secondaries fund closing at $5.5 billion.
Several managers emphasized private credit and wealth-channel products. HarbourVest, reporting $161 billion in firmwide AUM as of December 31, 2025, closed a $1.1 billion structured solutions vehicle in January 2026. Lexington Partners, acquired by Franklin Templeton in April 2022, has seen its Franklin Lexington Private Equities Secondaries strategy top $3.5 billion in AUM within its first year. Pantheon closed its opportunistic credit secondaries program at $2.2 billion in July 2025.
The guide also profiles StepStone, which is targeting roughly $6 billion for its next flagship secondaries vehicle, and Adams Street Partners, whose Secondaries Investment Program raised more than $5 billion, anchored by Global Secondary Fund 8 at $2.7 billion. Figures in the guide are drawn from different reporting dates, so comparisons across managers should account for varying as-of dates.
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