Secondaries In 2025: Building On A Record Year

Secondaries markets had another blockbuster year in 2024, with Evercore recently confirming that transaction volume hit $160 billion in total^{1, 2}. This represents a record for secondary market deal volume, which hit a previous high of $134 billion in the robust dealmaking environment of 2021.

While distributions from private funds were up in 2024, the ongoing need for liquidity drove limited partners to the LP-led secondaries market, where they were met with increasing demand from record levels of dry powder throughout the calendar year³. A sustained uptick in valuations (likely driven by this demand but also tracking very strong U.S. equity markets) went a long way to close valuation gaps between potential sellers and buyers. For many first-time sellers of LP intearests⁴, improved valuations were enough to convince them that the secondaries market is a key tool in their portfolio management toolbox. Driven by the same demands for liquidity and expanding dry