HarbourVest Partners has expanded its credit secondaries platform with the formation of a dedicated investment team.
The team will be led by Greg Ciesielski from the firm’s secondaries team, and Sean Gillespie from the credit team.
The $146bn (£109bn) private markets asset manager said that the expansion reflects its growing focus on the private credit secondaries market, which it sees as one of the fastest growing but still undercapitalised segments of private markets.
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It cited research that showed that the global private credit market surpassed $1.6tn in 2024, yet only $6.8bn of global secondaries dry powder is currently allocated to credit transactions.
It said that increasing demand from limited partners (LPs) and general partners (GPs) for more flexibility solutions was also driving growth, with credit secondary volumes rising from $3bn in 2020 to $10bn in 2024.
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“We believe credit secondaries will be one of the fastest-growing segments of the secondaries market over the next several years,” said John M. Toomey Jr., chief executive of HarbourVest Partners.
“Our multi-manager investment approach, which provides access to quality deal-flow from our more than 600 active GP relationships, has allowed us to scale our equities secondaries business to become one of the largest in the world. Our platform brings together decades of secondaries experience with deep credit underwriting capabilities in both direct and primary commitments, which we believe positions HarbourVest to be a preferred capital provider at scale in the credit secondaries market.”
HarvourVest said that the new team will lead the firm’s global credit secondaries strategy, drawing on its position as the third largest equity secondaries manager in the world and four decades of experience in secondaries.
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The strategy will span both LP- and GP-led transactions and integrate with HarbourVest’s broader credit platform, which includes primary, direct and secondary opportunities.
“Credit secondaries offer investors differentiation in how to access income, downside protection and seasoned portfolios,” said Ciesielski. “The demand is strong and our ability to access capital at scale and underwrite portfolios provides a compelling value proposition for investors.”
