Private equity secondaries have grown far beyond their niche origins. Once seen mainly as a liquidity outlet for limited partners (LPs), the secondaries market has evolved into one of the fastest-growing and most sophisticated segments of private markets.
According to Jefferies’ Global Secondary Market Review (January 2025), total secondary transaction volume reached $162 billion in 2024, a 45% increase from 2023. The market also ended the year with roughly $288 billion in available capital, underscoring how much dry powder is waiting to be deployed.
At the center of this growth are GP-led continuation vehicles.
What Is a Continuation Vehicle?
A continuation vehicle allows a general partner (GP) to move one or more portfolio companies from an older fund into a new, purpose-built special purpose vehicle (SPV).
Existing LPs can choose to cash out or roll their investment into the new vehicle alongside secondary buyers. This structure gives LPs optional liquidity while letting GPs extend ownership of high-performing companies to capture additional value over time.
Why GPs Are Extending Hold Periods
Traditional private equity timelines that involved investing, growing, and exiting within 5 to 7 years have stretched as companies stay private longer and market exits remain limited.
Continuation vehicles solve a key challenge by allowing GPs to retain control of proven assets while giving LPs flexibility. For new investors, they also offer exposure to seasoned portfolio companies with established track records, often more attractive than committing to a blind-pool fund early in its lifecycle.
The Rapid Growth of GP-Led Secondaries
Jefferies reports $75 billion in GP-led transaction volume in 2024, nearly half of all secondary activity. Evercore and BlackRock both note that single-asset continuation vehicles represent roughly 40 to 50 percent of this GP-led market, highlighting how dominant the structure has become.
Major players such as Ardian, Blackstone Strategic Partners, and HarbourVest continue to lead, while firms like Orchard Investment Partners and SQ Capital are emerging specialists. Large buyout firms including TPG and CVC Capital Partners are now creating dedicated GP-solutions funds to manage long-duration assets across sectors from healthcare to technology.
What This Means for Investors
For LPs, continuation vehicles provide a mix of liquidity and long-term exposure, but also call for more due diligence around valuations, fairness opinions, and potential conflicts of interest.
For GPs, they offer a way to maintain partnerships with management teams and avoid forced sales in uncertain exit markets.
And for allocators and deal professionals, the rise of GP-led transactions means secondaries are no longer peripheral; they are a core part of private market portfolio strategy.
Tracking the Shift with Dakota Marketplace
As continuation vehicles and GP-led secondaries reshape private markets, data and transparency are critical.
Dakota Marketplace provides comprehensive insights on private equity firms, funds, and portfolio companies, complete with filters for sector, fund type, and transaction size. This helps allocators and managers track where capital is flowing and which GPs are extending holds.
What This Means for You
For LPs, continuation vehicles provide added flexibility… allowing investors to take liquidity or continue participating in an asset’s growth. But they also require careful analysis. As these structures become more common, transparency, fairness opinions, and third-party valuations are increasingly important in ensuring alignment between GPs and LPs.
For GPs, continuation funds represent a chance to generate long-term value, maintain close relationships with portfolio company leadership, and avoid forced exits in a tough market. It’s a meaningful evolution of the traditional exit model.
For deal professionals and allocators tracking these trends, access to reliable data is key. Dakota Marketplace offers robust coverage of private equity firms, funds, and portfolio companies with filters by sector, sub-industry, deal size, and more for transactions. It’s a valuable tool for identifying where capital is flowing, and where GPs are choosing to hold on.
To explore more about continuation vehicles, GP-led secondaries, or other trends shaping private markets, book a demo of Dakota Marketplace.
