September 19, 2025
Continuation vehicles have rapidly evolved from a niche solution into a central feature of the private equity secondaries landscape. Once seen primarily as a tool for liquidity in legacy assets, they are now one of the most dynamic and strategic mechanisms in the market - allowing GPs to extend ownership of prized portfolio companies, provide optionality to LPs, and navigate an environment where traditional exits remain uncertain. As the secondaries market matures and capital becomes more selective, continuation vehicles are reshaping the dynamics between buyers, sellers, and sponsors.
At dakota, we’re tracking continuation vehicles with all the key details investors need to evaluate each opportunity. Dakota Marketplace provides comprehensive, up-to-date information on fund sizes, strategies, closing dates, underlying assets, and service providers—giving investors, advisors, and fund sponsors a powerful resource to navigate and analyze this rapidly growing segment.
In this article, we highlight the top continuation vehicles in the market today, showcasing the range and scale of strategies shaping secondaries. By the end, you’ll have a clear look at who’s behind them, what they hold, and how continuation structures are driving the next phase of private markets innovation.
Overview: Inflexion closed its first multi-asset continuation vehicle, Inflexion Continuation Fund I, in May 2025 at £2.3 billion, the largest such fund raised in Europe to date. The oversubscribed fund was led by Carlyle AlpInvest, HarbourVest, and Lexington Partners, with financial advice from Evercore, Jefferies, and William Blair. It allows existing investors to crystallize value while offering the option to reinvest, delivering a 3.4x multiple and c.28% IRR on the transferred assets.
Focus: The fund will support four portfolio companies, Aspen Pumps, Rosemont Pharmaceuticals, Ocorian, and CNX Therapeutics, by providing fresh capital to accelerate growth through M&A, organic initiatives, and international expansion, while continuing to back Inflexion’s mid-market private equity strategy across healthcare, industrials, and services.
Overview: This is a single-asset continuation vehicle being arranged by PAI Partners, supported by Goldman Sachs as a lead investor, to retain PAI’s stake in Froneri, the global ice-cream company co-owned with Nestlé. The transaction values Froneri at around €15 billion including debt.
Focus: To allow PAI to hold onto the Froneri asset beyond the typical duration of its existing fund(s), raise liquidity for current investors, and continue to benefit from Froneri’s growth (organic and via acquisitions) while partnering with institutional LPs who want exposure going forward.
Overview: NB Strategic Capital Fund II is Neuberger Berman’s GP-led secondary fund which raised just over $4.0 billion in commitments, far exceeding its ~$2.5 billion target and outpacing its predecessor from 2020.
Focus: The fund focuses on GP-led secondary transactions and continuation funds, aiming to lead and participate in larger, high-quality deals rather than a high volume of small ones. It seeks to offer liquidity solutions to existing investors while investing in top performing assets that managers want to retain, especially in a market environment where exits are challenging.
Overview: BSP Debt Fund IV CV is a $2.3 billion private credit continuation vehicle, established by Benefit Street Partners in partnership with Coller Capital. It’s the largest single-fund portfolio of its kind in the private credit secondaries market.
Focus: The fund has acquired a diversified, income-generating portfolio of senior secured floating-rate loans (both sponsor- and non-sponsor-backed) from BSP’s 2016 vintage direct lending fund, with an emphasis on first lien loans to U.S. middle-market companies. Its goal is to extend the life of the 2016 flagship fund’s assets while providing continuity and return for existing investors.
Overview: Astorg raised a €1.4 billion continuation fund to hold and support Normec, a leading European testing, inspection, certification, and compliance services company. The vehicle was backed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and AlpInvest as lead investors, giving liquidity to existing LPs while allowing continued exposure to Normec’s growth.
Focus: The fund is designed to support Normec’s expansion strategy, with emphasis on further M&A, international growth, and strengthening its position as a consolidator in the European TIC sector.
Overview: In July 2025, Tikehau Capital closed a continuation fund of over €1 billion to back its portfolio company Egis, with Apollo S3/ADIA and Neuberger Berman as co-lead investors. The transaction followed Tikehau’s initial 2022 control investment in Egis, during which the company more than doubled EBITDA and exceeded revenue targets.
Focus: The fund will finance Egis’s next phase of international expansion and M&A, particularly in North America, while reinforcing its role as a global leader in sustainable infrastructure, mobility, and low-carbon solutions, in line with Tikehau’s decarbonisation private equity strategy.
Overview: Triton Partners established the Triton IV Continuation Fund to acquire four portfolio companies—Assemblin, EQOS, Flokk, and Unica—from its 2013 vintage Triton Fund IV. The continuation vehicle was backed by AlpInvest, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, HarbourVest, and Pantheon, among others.
Focus: The fund provides capital and extended ownership horizon to continue developing these companies across industrial services, building installation, and furniture, while delivering liquidity to existing Triton IV investors. It allows Triton to support operational improvements and growth initiatives across the four businesses.
Overview: The HV COCO Growth continuation fund is a €430-million+ vehicle launched by HV Capital, marking one of Germany’s first large VC‐continuation funds. It transfers a number of high-growth portfolio companies (from HV IV, HV V, and co-investment funds dating from 2010-2015) into a new structure, with new and existing LPs participating.
Focus: The fund is focused on giving these portfolio companies more runway to deliver growth beyond the usual fund lifecycle—supporting follow-on funding, international scaling, and leveraging value creation that may take longer than the standard exit horizon. It’s also designed to allow LPs to realize liquidity while keeping exposure for those that believe in longer-term upside.
Overview: ERA Blade is a single-asset continuation vehicle, part of ERA Partners’ American Aviation Holdings platform, that closed at US$485 million. It is substantially oversubscribed, supported by both new and existing institutional infrastructure, real assets, and secondary investors; StepStone Infrastructure and Real Assets acted as lead investor.
Focus: The fund is intended to support growth in aerial wildland firefighting and heavy lift operations. That includes expanding the fleet, scaling operations both in the U.S. and internationally, and meeting increased demand driven by climate change and wildfire risks.
Overview: This fund is Ardian’s first private equity continuation vehicle with respect to one of its own portfolio companies, Syclef, initially held in Ardian Expansion Fund V (from 2020). The continuation fund is backed by existing LPs along with new ones; lead investors include Eurazeo (senior lead) and Astorg (co-lead).
Focus: Its aim is to support Syclef’s next phase of growth by providing additional capital for its organic expansion and M&A pipeline, enabling it to expand more internationally, and play a role in the energy transition in refrigeration and air conditioning through more efficient, natural fluid systems.
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