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Contents 1 Liquidity in the Private Equity Market 2 Secondary Market Participants 3 History 4 External Resources 5 See Also

The private equity secondary market (also often called private equity secondaries or secondaries) refers to the buying and selling of pre-existing investor commitments to private equity and other alternative investment funds. Sellers of private equity investments sell not only the investments in the fund but also their remaining unfunded commitments to the funds. By its nature, the private equity asset class is illiquid, intended to be a long-term investment for buy-and-hold investors. For the vast majority of private equity investments, there is no listed public market; however there is a robust and maturing secondary market available for sellers of private equity assets.

Driven by strong demand for private equity exposure, a significant amount of capital has been committed to dedicated secondary market funds from investors looking to increase and diversify their private equity exposure.

Major secondary specialist firms include: Coller Capital, Lexington Partners, HarbourVest Partners, Landmark Partners and AlpInvest Partners.

Large financial institutions including AIG, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse as well as smaller firms including Adams Street, Pomona Capital, Pantheon Ventures and Paul Capital are also buyers of secondaries.

Advisors of secondary sellers include UBS Investment Bank (UBS AG) as well as dedicated boutique firms Cogent Partners, Triago, Probitas Partners, MCA LAMB, Campbell Lutyens, Fidequity, and NYPPE.

Founded in 1982 by Dayton Carr, the Venture Capital Fund of America (today VCFA), began purchasing interests in existing venture capital, leveraged buyout and mezzanine funds, as well as direct secondary interests in private companies. Early pioneers in the secondary market include Jeremy Coller, the founder of UK-based Coller Capital, and Landmark Partners, based in Simsbury, CT.

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