The Secondary Opportunities Fund VI’s predecessor vehicles raised US$5.8 billion in 2023 and US$2.7 billion in 2019, CVC said in a statement Thursday.

The secondaries market has boomed as more private equity firms find themselves stuck with hard-to-sell assets, with deals in this area surging to a record US$121 billion in the first half of the year, according to Evercore Inc.

“There’s continued support for secondaries, it has become an asset class of its own and investors are ramping up their allocations,” Carlo Pirzio-Biroli, head of CVC’s secondaries strategy, said in an interview. “There’s a massive opportunity set as well, with several trillions of capital trapped in unsold private equity holdings.”

CVC said its new fund attracted more than 200 new and existing investors. 

The firm agreed to acquire secondaries specialist Glendower Capital in 2021, giving it a new angle to bring in investors and generate more recurring management fees. CVC now manages €20 billion (US$23.2 billion) of assets across its private equity and credit secondary funds.

“The days of the exciting standalone boutique at the higher end of the market are over,” Pirzio-Biroli said. “There’s a premium to being part of a larger platform, which gives you an edge in sourcing, originating and executing deals.”

Uploaded by Liza Shireen Koshy