StepStone raises around $3bn so far for latest PE secondaries fund

StepStone Group has already surpassed the amount raised for the previous vintage of its private equity secondaries fund with its latest vehicle.

The firm has raised approximately $3 billion for its latest vehicle dedicated to the strategy after raking in $625 million for the fund in the past quarter, chief executive Scott Hart said on the firm’s Q3 2024 earnings call on Thursday.

The fund is StepStone Secondary Opportunities Fund V, Secondaries Investor understands.

The predecessor fund, StepStone Secondary Opportunities Fund IV, closed on $2.1 billion in 2020 against its $1.25 billion target, according to Secondaries Investor data.

Fund V launched in 2022 and held its second close last June, securing $1.61 billion from LPs including Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, Fubon Life Insurance and Cathay Life Insurance, according to Secondaries Investor data.

StepStone has also raised $1.5 billion for its venture capital secondaries fund and $900 million for its real estate secondaries fund, Hart disclosed on the call.

The PE and VC secondaries vehicles have reached their late fundraising stages, according to Hart. They will continue to fundraise and “should wrap up in the first half of this calendar year”, he said.

The firm’s latest VC secondaries vehicle in market is StepStone VC Secondaries Fund VI, which launched last August with a $2.6 billion target, according to Secondaries Investor data.

StepStone’s most recent offering in the real estate secondaries market is StepStone Real Estate Partners V, Secondaries Investor data shows. The fund launched in March of last year and achieved its first close in May, securing $900 million.

The secondaries market hit a new fundraising record last year, with a total of $117.92 billion raised across all asset classes, according to Secondaries Investor data. That figure is more than double the prior year’s $53.28 billion and almost 17 percent higher than the previous record set in 2020. In total, 92 secondaries funds held their final close last year, marking the second-highest year by vehicle count close.

“[In] terms of what we are hearing from LPs at the moment, it feels like sentiment is moving in the right direction,” Hart said. “[Not] only the recovery in the public markets, but views on interest rates and views on the current outlook are certainly meaning that LPs are more willing to commit and transact today.”

StepStone has been the beneficiary of some of that, he said.