Secondaries Deal of the Year in the Americas

1. AlpInvest, Evercore, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, ICG and Landmark Partners for the Clearlake GP-led process

2. CPP Investments, Goldman Sachs, GIC, PJT Park Hill and others for $2.5bn portfolio sale

3. Coller Capital, Neuberger Berman, Lazard and Akin Gump for the Permira IV GP-led process

Mention the Clearlake deal to anyone in the secondaries market and they will be quick to point out that this was one of the most impressive deals of the last few years. In an Evercore-run process, Santa Monica-headquartered Clearlake Capital moved software company Ivanti out of existing funds and into a continuation vehicle, giving the GP more time to grow the company. Touted as one of the quickest GP-led processes ever run at just under two months, the processes involved around $1.25 billion with capital reserved for add on activity.

Secondaries Firm of the Year in the Americas

1. AlpInvest Partners

2. Whitehorse Liquidity Partners

3. Goldman Sachs Asset Management

AlpInvest Partners continued to do sizeable GP-led deals, even when the crisis caused the secondaries market to more or less close in the second quarter. Among the deals it backed was a $460 million recapitalisation involving mid-market specialist Kinderhook Industries and the $1.7 billion GP-led restructuring of Audax Private Equity’s 2012-vintage fund. The Carlyle subsidiary also had a great year for fundraising, raising $10.2 billion for its seventh secondaries programme after barely a year in market.

Secondaries Advisor of the Year in the Americas

1. Evercore

2. Campbell Lutyens

3. Lazard

Five years in a row – that’s Evercore’s track record at winning in this category, culminating in its win this year. The bank’s private capital advisory team, led by Nigel Dawn, advised on a whopping $30 billion-worth of deals last year, accounting for roughly half the market. Behind this was the firm’s ability to source and close on GP-led deals – secondaries processes initiated by sponsors – which have grown to account for almost half the market. It is likely we have not heard the last of Evercore’s impressive growth.

Secondaries Law Firm of the Year in the Americas

1. Kirkland & Ellis

2. Ropes & Gray

3. Proskauer Rose

A near clean sweep – that is the only way to describe Kirkland & Ellis’s wins in this year’s PEI Awards. The law firm continued its dominance of the secondaries market across all three global regions and in North America, Kirkland has won every year since the category launched in 2016. It is easy to understand why – the firm advised on almost $42 billion-worth of deals in the region across 18 portfolio sales, 70 processes involving GPs, 14 preferred equity transactions and three stapled tender offers. Highlights of the year include the law firm’s work with Clearlake Capital in its process involving Ivanti, as well as multiple large LP portfolio sales.

– This article was updated to reflect AlpInvest Partners’ inclusion in Deal of the Year involving Clearlake.