DOWNLOAD: Behind 2021’s secondaries fundraising numbers

Sizeable closes from Coller Capital, LGT Capital Partners and others anchored fundraising in a year when many players entered the growing market.

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Secondaries funds raised $63.8 billion last year, marking the second-highest annual period of fundraising for the strategy, according to data compiled by Secondaries Investor.

The figure is $35 billion shy of the prior year’s all-time record, when firms raised $98.9 billion.

The number of vehicles raising capital shot up last year, with 77 funds holding final closes – the most ever. This compares with 63 and 44 funds in the last two years, respectively.

The absence of final closes from Blackstone, Lexington Partners and Ardian was felt keenly. Those three groups alone raised nearly $40 billion in 2020. Blackstone and Lexington are back in market now, seeking at least $35 billion between them.

As shown by the numbers, more funds are trying to step into secondaries than ever before, and are succeeding. As capital is still largely concentrated around a long-time shortlist of buyers, new funds will need to demonstrate an edge to attract scaling capital. Of the funds that closed last year, more than two-thirds – 52 funds – raised less than $1 billion.

Download the full presentation as a PDF here.

Download the data here.

Find the Secondaries Investor database here.