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Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: Secondaries had a banner year in 2025, and new analysis from William Blair suggests that 2026 is on pace for another record.
What's the driver? William Blair notes that the recovery in M&A has been uneven. "Although M&A volumes increased
to nearly $5 trillion last year, the ecovery has been concentrated in
megadeals (valued at over $5 billion),
while the midmarket activity has
been rather static. A similar pattern
emerged with IPOs, where proceeds
rose to approximately $181 billion
in 2025,7 though the total number of
IPOs remained largely flat. Despite the
uptick in large-cap transaction activity,
many private equity portfolios continue
to experience limited liquidity and
extended hold periods, reinforcing
secondaries' growing role as a viable
exit alternative," the report says.
At the same time, secondary funds maintained their fundraising momentum,
raising a record $95 billion in 2025 (and a further $17 billion through year-to-date
February 2026). Secondary capital raised as a percentage of private capital has increased from 3% in 2021, to 10% last year. Total dry powder at the end of 2025 was $248 billion, according to William Blair data. Both established funds and new entrants are seeing an uptick in fundraising, setting secondaries apart from other parts of the private equity universe, which have run into fundraising challenges over the past year.
Multi-asset continuation funds are also growing, up from $32 billion ...................... To view our full article Click here
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