Transaction volume in the secondary market reached a record $225bn (£165bn) in 2025, surpassing $200bn for the first time, as limited partner-led (LP) and general partner-led (GP) transactions grew significantly.
LP-led volume rose 54 per cent year-over-year to $121bn, while GP-led climbed to $93bn last year, a 42 per cent year-on-year increase, according to Campbell Lutyens’ full-year 2025 Secondary Market Overview Report.
Overall transaction volumes in 2025 were up 45 per cent from 2024.
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The rise in LP-led volume came as pensions continued to accelerate liquidity, while sovereign wealth funds, endowments, and family offices “monetised non-core GP relationships and tail-end interests at higher levels than prior years”, the placement agent’s report said.
Meanwhile, GP-led deals are now “a core strategic tool for sponsors”, as additional capital from both specialised funds and traditional LPs “unlocked deal flow”.
Campbell Lutyens reported record transaction volumes in infrastructure, private credit, and energy in 2025, noting that secondary solutions are increasingly being adopted beyond private equity.
In 2025, private credit and infrastructure LP-led volumes, which grew 45 per cent and 57 per cent, respectively, benefited from increased inflows into dedicated strategies.
The growth in private credit secondaries was driven primarily by GP-led transactions, which accounted for 61 per cent of activity, and reversing the trend for LP-led-driven deal flow seen in prior years, the report stated.
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Among the trends identified for 2026, Campbell Lutyens predicted that traditional LPs will become more active participants as secondary buyers, with growing interest in becoming buyers of fund interests to increase exposure to high-conviction GPs.
It forecast that ongoing emphasis on high-quality assets will sustain GP-led pricing strength, with a focus on more “deliberate” asset selection.
Campbell Lutyens also expects AI-enabled analytics to “transform” secondary transaction execution across the market on both buy-side and sell-side.
In particular, machine learning-driven fund forecasting tools may start to provide LPs with intrinsic valuations and break-even pricing analysis to inform decision making.
For the report, Campbell Lutyens drew on proprietary data from more than 120 of the most active secondary market participants.
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