Key Takeaways
- • The secondaries market reached a record $226 billion in transaction volume during 2025, representing 41% year-over-year growth and nearly nine times the $26 billion market size in 2013, according to Evercore Private Capital Advisory.
- • LP-led secondaries (institutional allocators selling stakes in private funds) grew 34% to $120 billion, while GP-led secondaries (continuation vehicles and evergreen fund structures) surged 51% to $106 billion, demonstrating broad-based market expansion across both segments.
- • Full-year 2025 volume significantly exceeded Evercore's original forecast of $171 billion ($97 billion LP-led, $74 billion GP-led), underscoring accelerating institutional demand for secondary liquidity solutions.
- • Pricing improvements are enabling LP participation for strategic portfolio optimization rather than distressed selling—buyout PE stakes traded at 94% of net asset value in H1 2025, compared with under 90% in 2022, narrowing historical discounts.
- • Market dynamics reflect extended PE fund hold periods and increasing average fund lengths, prompting institutional investors to use secondaries as a liquidity management tool rather than a forced liquidation mechanism.
Summary
The secondaries market for private fund stakes expanded to unprecedented scale in 2025, reaching $226 billion in total transaction volume and dramatically exceeding analyst expectations. This 41% increase from 2024 reflects a structural shift in how limited partners approach portfolio liquidity and rebalancing, moving away from forced-liquidation dynamics toward strategic capital deployment.
The market bifurcated into two growth drivers: LP-led secondaries, where institutional allocators sold existing positions, increased 34% to $120 billion, while GP-led secondaries, encompassing continuation vehicles and evergreen fund structures that extend investment horizons, surged 51% to $106 billion. This divergence underscores how both sides of the private market ecosystem are adapting to longer fund lifecycles and capital deployment lags. The 51% GP-led acceleration particularly signals that fund managers are employing secondary structures to manage portfolio extensions and avoid forced exits during challenging market conditions.
Evercore's research revealed that LPs increasingly view secondaries as a portfolio optimization mechanism rather than a distressed-asset dumping ground. This sentiment shift correlates directly with improving secondary-market pricing: buyout private equity stakes commanded 94% of net asset value in the first half of 2025, narrowing substantially from sub-90% valuations in 2022. This price improvement reduces the liquidity penalty LPs historically accepted when selling secondary positions, creating economic conditions that attract institutional capital for opportunistic repositioning.
The record 2025 volume also reflects structural factors in the private equity ecosystem—prolonged holding periods, delayed capital returns to investors, and expanded fund lifespans—that have created a persistent need for interim liquidity solutions. The market's evolution from $60 billion in 2020 to $226 billion in 2025 demonstrates that secondaries have matured from a niche distressed-asset market into a core liquidity infrastructure serving institutional allocators.
The market bifurcated into two growth drivers: LP-led secondaries, where institutional allocators sold existing positions, increased 34% to $120 billion, while GP-led secondaries, encompassing continuation vehicles and evergreen fund structures that extend investment horizons, surged 51% to $106 billion. This divergence underscores how both sides of the private market ecosystem are adapting to longer fund lifecycles and capital deployment lags. The 51% GP-led acceleration particularly signals that fund managers are employing secondary structures to manage portfolio extensions and avoid forced exits during challenging market conditions.
Evercore's research revealed that LPs increasingly view secondaries as a portfolio optimization mechanism rather than a distressed-asset dumping ground. This sentiment shift correlates directly with improving secondary-market pricing: buyout private equity stakes commanded 94% of net asset value in the first half of 2025, narrowing substantially from sub-90% valuations in 2022. This price improvement reduces the liquidity penalty LPs historically accepted when selling secondary positions, creating economic conditions that attract institutional capital for opportunistic repositioning.
The record 2025 volume also reflects structural factors in the private equity ecosystem—prolonged holding periods, delayed capital returns to investors, and expanded fund lifespans—that have created a persistent need for interim liquidity solutions. The market's evolution from $60 billion in 2020 to $226 billion in 2025 demonstrates that secondaries have matured from a niche distressed-asset market into a core liquidity infrastructure serving institutional allocators.
Go deeper than the headline
Research every firm in this story, track the ones that matter and get the daily briefing — free for 7 days.