The Secondary Market: Liquidity Has a Market, and It Has a Price

A market grew because holds became longer

Private-fund interests are typically designed to be held until the fund distributes proceeds. In practice, limited partners sometimes need to sell earlier, and general partners sometimes reorganise a fund's remaining companies into a continuation vehicle.

The reason a secondary market has work to do is visible in holding periods and distributions. Bain & Company reports that the average holding period at exit was around seven years in 2025, against five to six years from 2010 to 2021, that almost 40% of companies were held for more than five years, compared with 29% in 2019, and that distributions as a percentage of net asset value were 14%, and had been below 15% for four consecutive years. Continuation vehicles still accounted for less than 10% of exit value ^[1]. An unrealised stock of companies is, in that setting, a reason some holders look for a negotiated sale. It is not a reason to treat any secondary interest as attractive.

Volume as two publishers recorded it

Jefferies, in its Global Secondary Market Review of January 2026, records 2025 secondary-market volume of US$240 billion, up 48% from US$162 billion in 2024. Of the 2025 total, limited-partner transactions accounted for US$125 billion, or 52%, and general-partner-led transactions accounted for US$115 billion, or 48%, up from US$75 billion. Dedicated secondary-market capital, as Jefferies reports it, was US$327 billion, compared with US$288 billion a year earlier ^[2]. The 2024 figures are consistent with Jefferies' January 2025 review ^[3]. A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission commissioner, in remarks of 24 February 2026, cited the same Jefferies 2025 volume figure ^[4].

Evercore Private Capital Advisory, in its 2025 Secondary Market Report published in February 2026, records 2025 volume of US$226 billion, up 41%. Of that total, limited-partner transactions were US$120 billion, up 34%, and general-partner-led transactions were US$106 billion, up 51%. Evercore reports dry powder of US$215 billion ^[5]. The two houses use their own methods and arrive at their own totals. Each figure is attributed to its publisher. Neither is a forecast of 2026 volume, and neither is an indication of future investment results.

Pricing is negotiated

Jefferies reports average limited-partner pricing of 87% of net asset value at the end of 2025, 200 basis points below the 2024 average, which Jefferies had reported at 89% of net asset value ^[2][3]. Net asset value in a private fund is an estimate, not a traded price. Prices in this market are negotiated and reflect the buyer's view of the assets, of liquidity and of timing — including the quality of the remaining companies, the time still needed to realise them, fees still to be paid, and the limited partner's own need for cash. Secondary interests remain illiquid, remain exposed to the underlying companies, and can result in the loss of capital.

An institutional process, not a public venue

A secondary sale is a negotiated process: information is limited, buyers run their own diligence, and closing depends on the fund's transfer provisions and on the general partner's consent. That process sits inside the same legal, tax and currency layer as a primary commitment, discussed in Crossing Borders into U.S. Private Markets.

The existence of a larger secondary market is a fact about how private-market liquidity is obtained, and at what price. Reading that market — the process, the documents, and the price — is work for a specialist partner with an owner's lens and fluency on both sides of the border.