What a record fundraise and record year say about the market’s future

Ardian’s $30bn haul and Evercore’s estimate of $160bn in deal volume suggest the next phase of the market’s development has begun.

By Adam Le

It’s not every day that records in the secondaries market get broken. This week we had the privilege of witnessing two.

On Thursday, Ardian confirmed it had raised $30 billion for its latest programme, ASF IX. The news comes three months after Secondaries Investor reported the programme was expecting to hold a final close on at least $29 billion around the end of 2024. Secondaries market pioneer Jeremy Coller had long predicted that a secondaries fund will one day become larger than the world’s biggest buyout fund. That day is now upon us.

Vladimir Colas, Ardian’s co-head of secondaries, told Secondaries Investor on Thursday the fundraise proved secondaries is no longer a niche or cyclical strategy.

“Now people recognise that secondaries is poised to be a very active part of what people use to manage their portfolio,” Colas said. “LPs will use it as sellers very commonly. We’re already seeing more and more programmatic sellers. LPs will [also] want to...

Read the full article on Secondaries Investor here.