It’s time to recognise the best in secondaries

The PEI Awards celebrates its 21st anniversary, with 12 secondaries categories up for grabs.

The secondaries industry stands at a potential inflection point.

On the one hand, continuation funds are providing an increasing number of GPs the opportunity to hold onto and further develop prized assets, while giving LPs the option to take money off the table. On the other hand, there are calls from certain market participants that such deals represent a kind of pass-the-parcel game that delivers little value for investors, as New Jersey State Investment Council board members voiced concerns about this week.

For LP portfolios, institutional investors are facing a raft of challenges – such as the denominator effect and needing to free up cash to re-up with managers – that can make offloading stakes in private funds an attractive option. Secondaries Investor is also hearing about a wall of GPs looking to use staple deals to help boost fundraising, at a time when capital raising is as challenging as it’s been in recent memory. With an estimated $94 billion in dry powder, the secondaries market stands ready to facilitate liquidity options for investors.

It’s against this backdrop that affiliate title Private Equity International is seeking submissions for its 21st year of the PEI Awards. The PEI Awards 2022 span 74 categories globally and seek to highlight the achievements of everything from specialised strategies, such as Sports-Focused Private Equity Firm of the Year and GP-Stakes Firm of the Year, to 12 categories for the secondaries market.

The secondaries categories are:

  • Secondaries Deal of the Year in Europe
  • Secondaries Firm of the Year in Europe
  • Secondaries Adviser of the Year in Europe
  • Secondaries Law Firm of the Year in Europe
  • Secondaries Deal of the Year in the Americas
  • Secondaries Firm of the Year in the Americas
  • Secondaries Adviser of the Year in the Americas
  • Secondaries Law Firm of the Year in North America
  • Secondaries Deal of the Year in Asia
  • Secondaries Firm of the Year in Asia
  • Secondaries Adviser of the Year in Asia
  • Secondaries Law Firm of the Year in Asia

The PEI Awards seeks to highlight those firms and institutions at the forefront of leading change and innovation – and we need your help to do so. While the PEI Awards remain the only industry awards decided by the industry, it is PEI and Secondaries Investor editorial staff who put together the shortlists. We invite you to send us details of how your firm has stood out in the past 12 months and why you think you deserve to be shortlisted. Submissions close on Friday 11 November and voting begins in early December.

Send us your submissions here. Find details of the PEI Awards 2022 and secondaries categories submission processes here and full details of the Awards here.