Private-market investors are pouring record sums into secondaries as limited partners hunt for liquidity and buyout firms look for new ways to manage aging portfolios.
Global secondary transaction value climbed to about $225 billion in 2025, a 45% jump from a year earlier, marking the largest annual total on record, according to data from private capital adviser Campbell Lutyens. The surge comes despite a modest recovery in IPOs and mergers, which has failed to translate into meaningful cash distributions for investors.
LP-led transactions remained the single largest driver of activity, accounting for around 54% or $121.5 billion of total value, as pensions, sovereign wealth funds and endowments increasingly use secondaries as a portfolio management tool rather than an emergency liquidity option, the report shows.
GP-led deals also expanded sharply, with volumes rising more than 40% year on year, fueled by sponsors seeking to extend hold periods on top-performing assets through continuation vehicles.
Asia-Pacific sellers played a growing role in the market. The region accounted for about 18% of global secondary volume in 2025, up from roughly 8% the year before, as institutions across Asia looked to rebalance portfolios amid slower exit activity and allocation pressure.
DealStreetAsia reported that SAFE Investment Company (SAFE IC), one of China’s largest sovereign wealth funds, is in advanced talks to sell a portfolio of private fund stakes. The National University of Singapore, Khazanah, The Hong Kong Jockey Club, GIC, and CIC were also reported to be among LP-led sellers last year. La Caisse was the latest to be considering a sale of their Asian exposure.
Pricing held up for high-quality assets, even as supply surged. Average discounts in LP-led transactions widened modestly to about 14%, reflecting a broader mix of assets coming to market. By contrast, blue-chip buyout funds — particularly large and mid-market strategies — continued to trade in the mid-90s as a percentage of net asset value, with some marquee portfolios clearing at or above par, the report said.
The GP-led market is also becoming more diverse. Multi-asset continuation vehicles accounted for roughly 44% of GP-led activity, as sponsors bundled high-quality assets to attract a wider buyer base. Credit-focused continuation deals rose about 66% to $12 billion, while infrastructure secondaries climbed to around $11 billion, reflecting strong demand for performing, cash-generative assets.
Buyers continue to be well capitalized. Evergreen and semi-liquid vehicles now manage more than $100 billion in assets, according to Campbell Lutyens, intensifying competition for deals and helping absorb the surge in supply across both LP- and GP-led transactions.
With private equity firms holding assets longer and institutional investors under pressure to generate cash, secondaries are increasingly seen as a permanent fixture of private markets rather than a cyclical outlet. “Even with exits improving at the margin, distributions remain muted,” the firm said, pointing to secondaries as a structural release valve for the industry’s liquidity bottleneck
