Top 30 Secondaries & Liquidity Solutions PEF 2026

This report forms part of the Capital Ranking Secondaries & Liquidity Solutions Private Equity series, which evaluates specialist secondaries investors, private markets liquidity platforms, and institutionally significant investment managers active across LP-led secondaries, GP-led transactions, continuation vehicles, direct secondaries, portfolio finance, preferred equity, private credit secondaries, real-asset secondaries, and other private market liquidity strategies.

Secondaries and liquidity solutions firms play a central role in modern private markets by connecting investors seeking liquidity with capital providers capable of underwriting existing private assets. Unlike traditional private equity firms that primarily acquire operating companies through new transactions, secondaries investors purchase fund interests, portfolios, continuation-vehicle positions, direct company stakes, credit exposures, and other assets whose value depends on existing investment histories and remaining ownership potential.

The category has developed from a relatively narrow market for distressed or non-core fund interests into an established component of institutional portfolio management. Limited partners now use secondaries to rebalance allocations, manage vintage exposure, accelerate distributions, reduce administrative complexity, or reposition portfolios. General partners use continuation vehicles and related structures to retain selected assets, provide optional liquidity to existing investors, and secure additional capital for the next stage of company development.

The market therefore requires more than access to capital. Effective secondaries investing depends on portfolio-level data, asset-level underwriting, valuation discipline, legal and tax execution, manager knowledge, conflict management, and the capacity to close transactions with multiple stakeholders. As the market broadens across private equity, venture capital, private credit, infrastructure, real estate, and other private assets, specialist judgment is becoming increasingly important.

This ranking identifies firms that demonstrate sustained secondaries capability, active transaction relevance, credible underwriting resources, institutional relationships, and a clearly identifiable role within the global private markets liquidity ecosystem.

Market Overview

The global secondary market entered 2026 after a record year. Estimated transaction volume reached approximately $233 billion in 2025, with LP-led transactions accounting for about $117 billion and GP-led transactions for about $116 billion. The near balance between the two segments illustrates how the market has developed into a two-sided liquidity system serving both investors and fund sponsors.

LP-led activity is supported by several persistent forces. Institutional investors continue to manage mature private market portfolios accumulated across many fund vintages, while distributions from conventional exits have not always kept pace with new commitments and capital calls. Secondary sales allow investors to generate liquidity, reduce manager relationships, reshape regional or sector exposure, and manage allocations without waiting for each underlying fund to complete its natural life.

GP-led activity has also become a mainstream part of private equity portfolio management. Continuation vehicles can provide existing investors with a choice between realizing value and retaining exposure while allowing sponsors to hold selected companies beyond the term of an older fund. These transactions have expanded from large single-asset processes into multi-asset, middle-market, sector-specific, private credit, and real-asset structures.

Pricing has strengthened as more capital has entered the market and transaction processes have become more competitive. Higher pricing benefits sellers but raises the importance of disciplined underwriting for buyers. Secondary investors must distinguish between portfolios where mature assets, near-term distributions, and embedded value support pricing and portfolios where stale valuations, weak exits, concentrated exposure, or additional capital requirements create greater risk.

The competitive landscape now includes dedicated secondaries firms, diversified private markets managers, large alternative investment platforms, portfolio-finance specialists, and newer technology-enabled entrants. Scale is valuable in large portfolios and complex continuation vehicles, but specialist firms remain important in smaller, fragmented, regional, venture-oriented, tail-end, or structurally complex transactions that may require more customized execution.

Industry Trend — 2026

In 2026, secondaries are increasingly functioning as permanent infrastructure for private markets rather than as an occasional response to investor distress. The market’s growth is linked to the expansion of private capital itself: a larger stock of privately held assets, longer holding periods, and more varied ownership structures create a continuing requirement for liquidity between initial investment and final exit.

One major development is the broadening of continuation vehicles. Large single-asset transactions remain important, but middle-market sponsors and repeat issuers are using continuation structures more frequently. This requires buyers to combine sponsor assessment with company-level underwriting, governance analysis, valuation review, and evaluation of the alignment between selling funds, rolling investors, the sponsor, and new capital.

Structured liquidity is developing alongside conventional secondaries. Portfolio finance, preferred equity, NAV-related capital, strip sales, deferred consideration, and other hybrid structures can provide liquidity without requiring a complete sale of the underlying assets. These solutions are especially relevant when investors or managers wish to retain economic exposure but need capital for distributions, follow-on investment, allocation management, or fund-level obligations.

Private credit secondaries represent another important area of development. Growth in direct lending and other private credit strategies has created a larger inventory of fund interests and loan portfolios that may require liquidity. Credit secondaries demand analysis of borrower quality, documentation, collateral, seniority, duration, default risk, and manager practices in addition to conventional private fund underwriting.

Technology is also changing the operating model of secondaries firms. Large LP portfolios may contain thousands of underlying companies and extensive quarterly reporting histories. Data extraction, normalization, comparable analysis, scenario testing, and portfolio monitoring can improve underwriting speed and consistency, although technology does not remove the need for investment judgment where information is incomplete or asset quality varies materially.

Private-wealth distribution is widening the investor base for secondaries. Evergreen and semi-liquid structures can offer diversified exposure to mature private assets and potentially shorter duration than traditional primary commitments. Their growth increases the importance of product governance, liquidity design, valuation processes, investor suitability, and clear communication regarding the differences between fund liquidity and the liquidity of underlying private assets.

2026 market development	Effect on secondaries and liquidity transactions	Capability required from investment firms
Record secondary-market scale	Creates a larger and more continuous pipeline across LP-led and GP-led transactions	Dedicated sourcing, portfolio analytics, execution capacity, and disciplined capital deployment
Near balance between LP-led and GP-led volume	Requires firms to evaluate both diversified portfolios and concentrated company-level exposures	Fund underwriting combined with direct-investment and sponsor assessment
Longer private equity holding periods	Increases demand for liquidity before conventional company exits	Assessment of remaining value creation, duration, follow-on capital, and exit pathways
Continuation-vehicle expansion	Allows sponsors to retain selected assets while offering existing investors an election to sell or roll	Asset-level diligence, valuation discipline, alignment analysis, and conflict governance
Growth of middle-market GP-led transactions	Extends continuation solutions beyond large sponsors and trophy assets	Flexible transaction sizing, sector knowledge, and relationship-based execution
Portfolio finance and preferred equity	Provides liquidity without requiring a complete sale of private market exposure	Structural analysis, downside protection, cash-flow modeling, and legal execution
Private credit secondaries	Broadens liquidity activity to fund interests, loan portfolios, and credit continuation vehicles	Credit underwriting, documentation review, collateral analysis, and manager assessment
Venture and growth secondaries	Creates liquidity for funds, employees, founders, and early investors in companies remaining private longer	Company-level technology judgment, ownership analysis, information access, and concentration management
Real-asset secondaries	Expands the market across infrastructure, real estate, timberland, and other long-duration assets	Asset-class expertise, regulatory knowledge, and long-term cash-flow analysis
Stronger transaction pricing	Improves seller outcomes while reducing the margin for underwriting error	Bottom-up valuation, scenario analysis, selectivity, and portfolio construction
Technology-enabled underwriting	Accelerates processing of large volumes of fund and company data	Integrated data systems, quality control, analytical models, and experienced investment judgment
Evergreen and private-wealth products	Brings new capital into secondaries while creating additional liquidity and reporting obligations	Product governance, valuation controls, portfolio diversification, and liquidity management

The 2026 environment therefore favors firms that can operate across several dimensions at once. Large platforms must combine capital scale with detailed underwriting and transaction governance. Specialist firms must demonstrate that their focused strategies provide genuine advantages in sourcing, valuation, flexibility, or execution.

Methodology — Core Eligibility Criteria

To ensure structural consistency within the category, firms considered for this ranking were evaluated according to the following eligibility conditions:

• Operates as a dedicated secondaries investor, private markets liquidity provider, portfolio-finance specialist, or institutionally significant private markets platform with a clearly established secondaries strategy
• Provides capital for LP-led transactions, GP-led transactions, continuation vehicles, direct secondaries, structured liquidity solutions, portfolio finance, preferred equity, or related private market transactions
• Demonstrates meaningful activity in private equity fund interests, mature portfolios, continuation vehicles, venture and growth secondaries, private credit secondaries, or real-asset secondaries
• Maintains identifiable portfolio-underwriting, company-underwriting, valuation, data, legal, structuring, or transaction-execution capabilities
• Exhibits current investment activity and an established institutional role within the secondary market
• Maintains a sufficiently clear organizational identity for its secondaries activity to be evaluated
• Retains meaningful investment continuity through changing market, financing, and exit conditions

Advisory firms without principal investment activity, exchange or brokerage platforms focused primarily on individual share trading, inactive managers, and firms whose secondary-market involvement could not be evaluated as a sustained investment strategy were excluded or de-emphasized.

Methodology — Ranking Factors

Firms included in the ranking were evaluated using a combination of qualitative and structural considerations. Key factors include:

• Secondaries and liquidity-solutions track record
• Strength across LP-led, GP-led, direct, structured, and portfolio-finance transactions
• Scale and continuity of dedicated capital available for secondary investments
• Experience underwriting diversified fund portfolios and concentrated continuation-vehicle assets
• Ability to evaluate manager quality, company performance, portfolio construction, valuation, duration, and exit potential
• Institutional relationships with limited partners, general partners, advisers, and other private markets participants
• Transaction structuring, legal execution, and conflict-management capability
• Data infrastructure, portfolio analytics, and monitoring resources
• Experience across private equity, venture capital, growth equity, private credit, infrastructure, real estate, and other private asset classes
• Geographic reach and local market knowledge
• Ability to execute large, small, fragmented, complex, or customized transactions
• Current market activity and continued development of the secondaries platform
• Specialist focus or a clearly identifiable secondaries franchise within a broader private markets organization
• Long-term influence on the development of private market liquidity

The objective of the ranking is to identify firms that maintain sustained institutional relevance within secondaries and private markets liquidity rather than to compare short-term fund performance.

The ranking universe consisted of approximately 110 secondaries investors, portfolio-finance firms, direct-secondary specialists, and diversified private markets platforms, from which 30 institutions were selected for inclusion.

Tier classifications reflect relative institutional positioning within the secondaries and liquidity solutions segment and do not represent investment recommendations, fund-performance rankings, or endorsements of any investment product.

Company Profiles and Further Reference

Firm names appearing in this ranking are linked to their corresponding profiles in The Economy Wiki for companies, where available. These profiles provide additional background on each organization, including its principal activities, sector focus, market positioning, leadership, corporate information, and related rankings and analysis across The Economy Network.

The Economy Wiki profiles are maintained as editorial reference pages and may be updated as new public information becomes available.

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Tier I — Leading Global Secondaries & Liquidity Platforms

Ardian

• Headquarters: Paris, France
• Founded: 1996

Ardian is a global private investment firm with one of the largest and most established secondaries and primary investment platforms. Its activity spans private equity fund interests, diversified portfolios, GP-led transactions, infrastructure secondaries, co-investments, and other private markets solutions.

The firm’s scale allows it to evaluate and execute transactions involving large numbers of funds, managers, vintages, sectors, geographies, and underlying companies. This requires extensive portfolio data, manager relationships, asset-level analysis, and the ability to structure transactions around different seller objectives.

Ardian has also played an important role in establishing secondaries as a strategic portfolio-management tool rather than solely a response to distress. Its institutional relationships and global office network support sourcing across North America, Europe, Asia, and other private markets.

Ardian was included in Tier I in recognition of its scale, long-term influence, global transaction capability, and sustained role in the institutional development of private equity secondaries.

Coller Capital

• Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
• Founded: 1990

Coller Capital is one of the longest-standing firms dedicated specifically to the secondary market for private assets. Its platform covers private equity secondaries, private credit secondaries, institutional funds, insurance-oriented solutions, and private-wealth products.

The firm’s history gives it experience across periods of strong pricing, market dislocation, slow exits, and changing private capital structures. This multi-cycle perspective is valuable in a category where assets are acquired partway through their ownership lives and where remaining duration, valuation quality, and exit timing can materially affect outcomes.

In January 2026, Coller Capital signed an agreement to become part of EQT and to operate as Coller EQT following completion, which is expected in the third quarter of 2026. The announced structure is intended to preserve the independence of Coller’s origination and investment process while combining the specialist platform with EQT’s broader private markets organization.

Coller Capital was included in Tier I in recognition of its pioneering role, dedicated secondaries identity, global reach, and continued importance across private equity and private credit liquidity markets.

HarbourVest Partners

• Headquarters: Boston, United States
• Founded: 1982

HarbourVest Partners is a global private markets investment firm active across secondaries, primary fund investments, co-investments, infrastructure, real assets, and private credit. Its secondaries platform is among the longest-established and most institutionally significant in the market.

The firm participates in LP-led portfolio transactions, GP-led solutions, direct secondary opportunities, and other liquidity-oriented investments. Its broader private markets activity provides extensive visibility into fund managers, underlying companies, portfolio construction, and the development of assets across multiple vintages.

HarbourVest’s scale and international relationships support participation in large and complex transactions while its long history provides perspective on private market cycles, distributions, pricing, and manager behavior. These capabilities are particularly relevant when sellers require execution certainty across portfolios with many underlying positions.

HarbourVest Partners was included in Tier I in recognition of its multi-decade secondaries record, institutional capital base, global manager relationships, and capacity to execute across multiple transaction types and asset classes.

Lexington Partners

• Headquarters: New York, United States
• Founded: 1994

Lexington Partners is a major global manager of secondary private equity and co-investment funds. The firm has been closely associated with the development of large-scale institutional secondaries and has completed transactions involving fund interests, portfolios, direct investments, and customized liquidity requirements.

Its secondaries activity is supported by extensive manager coverage, portfolio information, transaction experience, and the capacity to deploy substantial capital. These resources are important in large LP-led transactions where buyers must evaluate numerous funds and companies while providing sellers with a reliable path to completion.

Lexington became part of Franklin Templeton in 2022 but continues to operate as a distinct specialist private markets business. Its established brand, investment team, and secondaries franchise remain independently identifiable within the broader organization.

Lexington Partners was included in Tier I in recognition of its transaction scale, long operating history, global reach, and central position in the institutional secondary market.

StepStone Group

• Headquarters: New York, United States
• Founded: 2007

StepStone Group is a global private markets investment firm with secondaries capabilities across private equity, venture capital, growth equity, private debt, infrastructure, and real estate. The firm combines investment activity with portfolio analytics, data, advisory, and customized account capabilities.

This integrated model is well suited to a secondary market in which transactions may involve thousands of underlying assets and multiple private market strategies. StepStone’s data resources and manager relationships support portfolio screening, valuation, exposure analysis, and identification of transaction opportunities across regions.

The firm participates in both LP-led and GP-led transactions and can approach liquidity requirements from the perspective of an investor, portfolio manager, and private markets solutions provider. Its global office network also supports local sourcing and execution in major private capital markets.

StepStone Group was included in Tier I in recognition of its global scale, cross-asset secondaries platform, analytical infrastructure, and broad institutional role within private market portfolio management.

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Tier II — Established Global Secondaries & Liquidity Firms

(Alphabetical order)

Ares Management

• Headquarters: Los Angeles, United States
• Founded: 1997

Ares Management is a global alternative investment manager whose Ares Secondaries Group invests across private equity, real estate, infrastructure, and private credit secondaries. The platform incorporates the institutional history and capabilities developed through Landmark Partners.

Its strategy covers traditional LP interests, GP-led transactions, continuation vehicles, and other customized liquidity solutions. Ares also benefits from direct investment and credit resources that can support analysis where secondary transactions require detailed assessment of operating companies, loan portfolios, or capital structures.

The private credit component is increasingly important as direct-lending markets mature and investors seek liquidity across credit funds and underlying loan exposures. Ares can combine secondary-market experience with a broader understanding of private credit origination and risk.

Ares Management was included in Tier II in recognition of the scale and breadth of its secondaries platform, its cross-asset capabilities, and its relevance to the expansion of liquidity solutions beyond conventional private equity fund interests.

Blackstone Strategic Partners

• Headquarters: New York, United States
• Founded: 1985

Blackstone Strategic Partners is the dedicated secondary and fund-solutions business of Blackstone. The platform invests across private equity, infrastructure, real estate, and private credit secondaries through LP-led portfolios, GP-led transactions, and other structured opportunities.

The business has the capacity to evaluate and fund large transactions while drawing on sector and asset-class resources across the wider Blackstone organization. This is relevant where secondary portfolios include complex underlying companies, real assets, credit exposures, or transactions requiring substantial capital commitments.

Strategic Partners also participates in an increasingly competitive market for continuation vehicles. Its scale can support lead or anchor positions in transactions where sponsors require both capital certainty and detailed asset-level diligence.

Blackstone Strategic Partners was included in Tier II in recognition of its capital resources, broad secondary-market mandate, and ability to execute complex transactions across several major private asset classes.

Clipway

• Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
• Founded: 2023

Clipway is an independent global secondaries firm built around a technology-enabled investment model. Its proprietary system integrates data extraction, screening, underwriting, portfolio construction, and monitoring across large private equity portfolios.

The firm’s development has been unusually rapid. In July 2026, Clipway announced the closing of a $6.4 billion debut secondaries platform, giving the organization substantial capacity despite its short operating history. Its team includes experienced secondaries investors, institutional asset allocators, and data specialists drawn from established private markets organizations.

Clipway focuses primarily on LP-led portfolios of buyout and growth funds in North America and Western Europe. Its model is relevant because large secondary transactions require consistent analysis of extensive fund and company data while still demanding human judgment regarding manager quality, valuation, and remaining asset potential.

Clipway was included in Tier II in recognition of its substantial dedicated capital base, experienced founding team, global expansion, and differentiated integration of technology with institutional secondaries underwriting.

Dawson Partners

• Headquarters: Toronto, Canada
• Founded: 2015

Dawson Partners, formerly known as Whitehorse Liquidity Partners, is a private markets investment firm focused on structured liquidity and portfolio finance. Its solutions are designed for institutional investors, private equity funds, and sponsors seeking capital while retaining exposure to underlying assets.

The firm’s approach includes preferred equity, portfolio-level financing, and other structures that differ from an outright sale of fund interests. These transactions may provide liquidity for distributions, portfolio management, follow-on needs, or fund-level objectives while allocating risk and cash flows between existing owners and new capital.

Dawson’s strategy reflects the broader evolution of secondaries into a market for customized liquidity. Effective execution requires careful analysis of portfolio value, cash-flow timing, downside protection, structural seniority, covenants, and alignment among stakeholders.

Dawson Partners was included in Tier II in recognition of its specialist portfolio-finance model, institutional scale, and contribution to the development of structured private markets liquidity.

Hamilton Lane

• Headquarters: Conshohocken, United States
• Founded: 1991

Hamilton Lane is a global private markets investment manager with a long-standing secondaries strategy operating alongside primary investments, direct equity, direct credit, infrastructure, real assets, and customized portfolio solutions.

The firm invests across LP-led and GP-led opportunities, using manager relationships, portfolio information, and proprietary technology to evaluate mature assets and complex portfolios. Its secondaries activity extends across transaction sizes, geographies, and private equity market segments.

Hamilton Lane’s data resources are particularly relevant in 2026. Secondary underwriting increasingly requires comparison of fund performance, company exposure, valuation development, and cash-flow patterns across large private markets datasets. The firm also operates evergreen and private-wealth strategies, connecting secondaries with a widening investor base.

Hamilton Lane was included in Tier II in recognition of its long secondaries history, global platform, analytical resources, and established role in institutional and private-wealth access to private markets.

LGT Capital Partners

• Headquarters: Pfäffikon, Switzerland
• Founded: 1994

LGT Capital Partners is a global alternative investment firm with a secondaries strategy spanning LP interests, GP-led transactions, and direct equity secondaries. The firm has invested in the secondary market since the late 1990s.

Its private equity platform provides extensive exposure to fund managers and underlying companies across Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific. This coverage supports bottom-up assessment of secondary portfolios and allows the firm to focus on mid-sized transactions where information advantages and relationship-based sourcing can be important.

LGT Capital Partners also maintains a dedicated direct equity secondaries strategy, providing liquidity around private equity-owned companies and concentrated asset exposures. This adds company-level capability to its more diversified fund-interest activity.

LGT Capital Partners was included in Tier II in recognition of its multi-decade secondaries experience, global manager network, mid-market positioning, and ability to invest across LP-led, GP-led, and direct secondary transactions.

Neuberger Berman

• Headquarters: New York, United States
• Founded: 1939

Neuberger Berman is an independent, employee-owned investment manager with a substantial private markets platform spanning primaries, co-investments, private credit, capital solutions, and secondaries. Its secondary strategies include diversified LP-led investments and dedicated GP-led capital.

The firm has built a significant position in continuation vehicles through transactions involving single assets and multi-asset portfolios. Company-level research and sponsor relationships support its assessment of assets that require direct underwriting rather than only fund-level portfolio analysis.

Neuberger Berman’s broader private markets platform also gives it visibility across managers, industries, capital structures, and ownership cycles. This is relevant where liquidity solutions must be tailored around a sponsor’s objectives and the remaining development needs of portfolio companies.

Neuberger Berman was included in Tier II in recognition of its scaled secondary-market capital, established GP-led capabilities, independent ownership model, and integration of manager relationships with fundamental asset underwriting.

Northleaf Capital Partners

• Headquarters: Toronto, Canada
• Founded: 2009

Northleaf Capital Partners is a global private markets investment firm active across private equity, private credit, infrastructure, and customized solutions. Its secondaries strategy focuses principally on mid-market and lower-middle-market private equity portfolios.

The firm has invested in secondaries since 2003 through its predecessor platform and participates primarily in LP-led transactions, with selective GP-led activity. Its primary fund and co-investment relationships can provide information and access advantages when evaluating managers and underlying companies.

Northleaf’s mid-market focus differentiates it from firms concentrating primarily on very large portfolios or continuation vehicles. Smaller and more fragmented transactions can present information asymmetry, complex transfer requirements, and opportunities for selective portfolio construction.

Northleaf Capital Partners was included in Tier II in recognition of its long secondaries experience, global institutional platform, mid-market specialization, and integrated private equity investment capabilities.

Pantheon

• Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
• Founded: 1982

Pantheon is a global private markets investor with extensive activity across private equity secondaries, primary investments, co-investments, infrastructure, real estate, and private credit. Its secondaries franchise has developed over several decades and operates across major private capital regions.

The firm invests in traditional LP-led portfolios and GP-led opportunities while using manager relationships and long-term private markets data to evaluate fund and company exposures. This breadth supports diversified transactions spanning different strategies, vintages, sectors, and geographies.

Pantheon has also developed a major private credit secondaries capability. This is increasingly relevant as direct-lending portfolios mature and investors seek liquidity through sales of fund interests, loan portfolios, and credit continuation structures.

Pantheon was included in Tier II in recognition of its institutional history, global private markets coverage, established private equity secondaries platform, and leadership in the developing private credit secondary market.

Partners Group

• Headquarters: Baar, Switzerland
• Founded: 1996

Partners Group is a global private markets firm investing across private equity, infrastructure, real estate, private credit, and multi-asset portfolio solutions. Secondaries have formed part of the firm’s private markets capabilities since its early development.

Its platform combines direct asset ownership with primary fund investments, secondary transactions, mandates, and evergreen structures. This provides a broad perspective on manager quality, company development, portfolio construction, and the liquidity requirements of institutional and private-wealth investors.

The firm’s global office network supports transaction sourcing and portfolio analysis across North America, Europe, Asia, and other markets. Its multi-asset experience is relevant as secondaries expand beyond conventional buyout funds into infrastructure, credit, and other private assets.

Partners Group was included in Tier II in recognition of its international scale, multi-asset private markets expertise, long experience with secondary transactions, and ability to connect liquidity solutions with broader portfolio construction.

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Tier III — Specialist Secondaries & Liquidity Firms

(Alphabetical order)

Adams Street Partners

• Headquarters: Chicago, United States
• Founded: 1972

Adams Street Partners is a global private markets investment manager active across secondaries, primary fund investments, co-investments, growth equity, and private credit. Its long-standing manager relationships and portfolio coverage support the evaluation of fund interests and underlying company exposures.

The firm’s secondaries strategy participates across LP-led and GP-led transactions, with an emphasis on disciplined portfolio construction and access to private equity managers across regions. Its broader investment activity provides context regarding fund behavior, sector development, and company performance.

Adams Street Partners was included in Tier III in recognition of its institutional longevity, diversified private markets platform, and meaningful secondaries capability within a broader set of investment strategies.

Banner Ridge Partners

• Headquarters: New York, United States
• Founded: 2018

Banner Ridge Partners is a private markets investment firm focused on primary investments, secondaries, and co-investments in niche and complex segments. Its secondary strategy provides liquidity to owners of private equity interests, illiquid vehicles, and structurally complicated portfolios.

The firm has particular experience with distressed, special-situations, credit-related, and out-of-favor assets. These segments can require flexible structuring, price discipline, and detailed analysis of legal rights and remaining portfolio value.

Banner Ridge Partners was included in Tier III in recognition of its specialist focus, substantial secondary-market capital formation, and differentiated position in fragmented or complex private market opportunities.

Capital Dynamics

• Headquarters: Zug, Switzerland
• Founded: 1988

Capital Dynamics is a global private asset manager active across private equity, private credit, and clean-energy infrastructure. Its private equity platform includes primary investments, co-investments, secondaries, and customized solutions.

The firm’s secondary activity addresses fund interests, portfolios, and more complex or mid-sized transactions. Its international footprint and broader private markets relationships support analysis across managers, regions, and investment strategies.

Capital Dynamics was included in Tier III in recognition of its long private markets history, global presence, and established secondary-investment capability within a diversified private assets platform.

CF Private Equity

• Headquarters: Wilton, United States
• Founded: 1988

CF Private Equity, formerly known as Commonfund Capital, manages private equity portfolios for institutional investors with strategies spanning primary funds, secondaries, co-investments, venture capital, buyouts, growth equity, and real assets.

The firm has participated in secondary transactions since the 1990s and developed dedicated secondary vehicles alongside customized institutional portfolios. Its experience with endowments, foundations, and other long-term allocators provides a distinct perspective on portfolio liquidity and manager access.

CF Private Equity was included in Tier III in recognition of its institutional client base, long private equity history, and sustained use of secondaries within diversified portfolio solutions.

Committed Advisors

• Headquarters: Paris, France
• Founded: 2010

Committed Advisors is an independent private investment firm focused on secondary transactions, co-investments, primary commitments, and customized private equity solutions. It operates from Paris with additional offices in New York and Singapore.

The firm targets LP portfolios, continuation funds, fund restructurings, direct holdings, and other small and mid-sized transactions across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Its transaction range supports tailored execution where sellers or sponsors require flexibility.

Committed Advisors was included in Tier III in recognition of its dedicated secondary funds, international reach, independence, and focus on the small and mid-sized segment of the private equity secondary market.

Glouston Capital Partners

• Headquarters: Boston, United States
• Founded: 2002

Glouston Capital Partners is an employee-owned private equity investment specialist focused on secondaries, primary fund investments, co-investments, and customized solutions. The firm became a standalone organization in 2002 after developing its private equity program during the preceding decade.

Its secondary strategy concentrates primarily on North American buyout assets and combines LP-led and GP-led transactions. A comparatively focused fund size allows the firm to pursue mid-sized opportunities and construct diversified portfolios with detailed manager and asset selection.

Glouston Capital Partners was included in Tier III in recognition of its dedicated secondary-market experience, employee-owned structure, North American buyout specialization, and sustained institutional platform.

Headway Capital Partners

• Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
• Founded: 2004

Headway Capital Partners provides equity capital to independent sponsors and private equity managers in lower-middle-market transactions across Western Europe and North America. The firm also participates selectively in single-asset GP-led transactions, continuation vehicles, and other deal-specific liquidity situations.

Its model is relevant to the boundary between secondaries and flexible sponsor solutions. Some transactions require new capital around an existing asset or manager relationship rather than the purchase of a diversified fund portfolio.

Headway Capital Partners was included in Tier III in recognition of its experience with customized transactions, independent sponsors, and smaller GP-led opportunities requiring flexible, relationship-based execution.

Hollyport Capital

• Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
• Founded: 2006

Hollyport Capital is a specialist manager focused on acquiring mature and legacy private equity assets in the secondary market. The firm buys portfolios of older fund interests and works with managers on selected fund restructurings.

Legacy portfolios can involve numerous small positions, long-dated assets, incomplete information, administrative complexity, and uncertain exit timing. Hollyport’s strategy is designed around these characteristics rather than the largest diversified institutional sales.

Hollyport Capital was included in Tier III in recognition of its dedicated secondaries identity, scale within the legacy-assets segment, and long experience providing liquidity for mature private equity portfolios.

HQ Capital

• Headquarters: Bad Homburg, Germany
• Founded: 1989

HQ Capital is a global private equity specialist active across primary fund investments, secondaries, co-investments, and portfolio solutions. The firm has teams in Europe, North America, and Asia and a history rooted in building diversified private equity programs.

Its secondary capabilities draw on long-standing manager relationships and portfolio information developed through primary investing. This supports transactions involving mature fund interests and customized portfolio requirements across regions.

HQ Capital was included in Tier III in recognition of its multi-decade private equity history, international presence, and secondary-market capability within an integrated fund-investment platform.

Kline Hill Partners

• Headquarters: Greenwich, United States
• Founded: 2015

Kline Hill Partners is a private equity secondaries firm focused on the smaller end of the transaction market. Its strategies cover LP fund transfers, GP-led transactions, direct company positions, and venture-oriented secondary opportunities.

The firm’s small-deal focus addresses a fragmented part of the market where sellers may hold individual fund interests or portfolios below the minimum size preferred by larger buyers. Execution quality, transfer experience, and responsiveness are particularly important in these transactions.

Kline Hill Partners was included in Tier III in recognition of its dedicated secondary-market platform, substantial activity in small transactions, and clear specialization across LP-led, GP-led, and direct secondary liquidity.

Stafford Capital Partners

• Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
• Founded: 2000

Stafford Capital Partners is an independent private markets investment and advisory group active across private equity, infrastructure, and timberland. Its private markets strategies include secondary investments and portfolio solutions.

The firm contributes specialist exposure to real assets and smaller private market portfolios. Infrastructure and timberland secondaries require asset-class knowledge, long-duration cash-flow analysis, and an understanding of operating, regulatory, and sustainability considerations.

Stafford Capital Partners was included in Tier III in recognition of its independent international platform, real-asset expertise, and relevance to the expansion of secondaries beyond conventional buyout fund interests.

Top Tier Capital Partners

• Headquarters: San Francisco, United States
• Founded: 2001

Top Tier Capital Partners is a venture-focused private markets investor active across fund investments, secondaries, co-investments, and growth-stage company investments. Its dedicated secondary strategies provide liquidity within the venture capital ecosystem.

Venture secondaries require analysis of private company quality, ownership rights, financing history, valuation, and exit potential in markets where information can be uneven and companies may remain private for extended periods. Top Tier’s manager relationships and company database support this work.

Top Tier Capital Partners was included in Tier III in recognition of its long venture investment history, dedicated secondary capital, and specialist coverage of fund and company liquidity in technology-oriented private markets.

TR Capital

• Headquarters: Hong Kong
• Founded: 2007

TR Capital is an Asia-Pacific private equity secondary investor focused on direct secondary transactions, fund restructurings, and liquidity solutions involving established companies and private equity portfolios.

Its regional specialization is important because Asian secondaries require local manager relationships, jurisdictional knowledge, company-level diligence, and an understanding of market structures that differ across Greater China, India, Southeast Asia, and other regional markets.

TR Capital was included in Tier III in recognition of its dedicated Asia-Pacific strategy, long regional operating history, and role in providing liquidity for technology, consumer, healthcare, and other growth-oriented private assets.

Vintage Investment Partners

• Headquarters: Herzliya, Israel
• Founded: 2003

Vintage Investment Partners is a technology-focused private markets firm active across venture fund investments, secondaries, growth investments, and related portfolio strategies in the United States, Europe, and Israel.

Its secondaries activity addresses fund interests, portfolios, and company-level opportunities within venture and growth markets. These transactions can provide liquidity to investors and shareholders where companies remain private longer than originally expected.

Vintage Investment Partners was included in Tier III in recognition of its venture and growth specialization, international technology network, and sustained role in innovation-oriented secondary markets.

Willowridge Partners

• Headquarters: New York, United States
• Founded: 1995

Willowridge Partners is a dedicated secondaries firm acquiring interests in venture capital, buyout, mezzanine, and other private capital funds and companies from existing investors seeking liquidity.

The firm focuses primarily on older and smaller partnership interests while retaining the capacity to execute larger transactions. Its long operating history provides experience with transfer processes, mature portfolios, tail-end funds, and varied seller requirements.

Willowridge Partners was included in Tier III in recognition of its exclusive secondaries focus, multi-cycle experience, and established role in the smaller and legacy segment of private capital liquidity.

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Remarks

Secondaries and liquidity solutions have become a permanent component of global private markets. Their role now extends beyond the purchase of fund interests to continuation vehicles, direct secondaries, portfolio finance, preferred equity, private credit liquidity, real-asset transactions, and structures designed around the specific requirements of investors and sponsors.

The 2026 market rewards several different institutional models. Large platforms provide capital capacity, cross-asset resources, and execution certainty for complex portfolios and continuation vehicles. Dedicated specialists contribute flexibility, regional knowledge, focused underwriting, and the ability to address smaller, mature, venture-oriented, or structurally complicated transactions.

The most important distinction is not simply between LP-led and GP-led activity. Firms increasingly need to combine fund analysis, company underwriting, manager assessment, valuation, data infrastructure, legal structuring, and governance. As transaction pricing strengthens, disciplined selection and clear alignment become more important rather than less.

The ranking emphasizes sustained secondaries capability, identifiable investment resources, active market participation, transaction breadth or specialization, and long-term relevance within private markets liquidity. Tier classification reflects relative institutional positioning within the category and does not represent investment advice, fund-performance evaluation, or endorsement of any investment product.

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Recognition

Inclusion in the Top 30 Secondaries & Liquidity Solutions PEF 2026 ranking is an editorial determination of The Economy Rankings and is independent of licensing, advertising, sponsorship, or other commercial participation.

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• Tier III represents firms ranked within the Top 30, following Tiers I and II. Firms within Tier III are also displayed alphabetically, and their displayed order should not be interpreted as an individual numerical ranking.
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