Secondaries fundraising in the first half of 2021 was down $14.7 billion on the same period of last year, which remains the heavyweight, for now.

Secondaries funds that hit final close raised $39.8 billion in the six months to 30 June, down from $54.5 billion in H1 2020, according to PEI data. This marks the second-highest half-year total on record, despite the falling off from the pandemic’s height.

A total of 38 funds closed capital in the first half, the largest being Coller International Partners VIII, which closed in January at $9 billion and accounts for nearly a quarter of the funds raised in the period.

Seven funds, one of which was an infrastructure vehicle, closed at more than $1 billion, including those of LGT, Whitehorse Liquidity Partners, Hamilton Lane, BlackRock and Ares-owned Landmark Partners.

While 67 percent of funds that closed capital are multi-regional, 24 percent are focused on North America – the same proportion as last year and higher than in the four preceding years.

Europe saw a 7 percent increase in capital allocation, up from last year’s anomalous 2 percent. The proportion of capital dedicated to Asia-Pacific has fallen every year since 2018’s peak.

Funds currently in market include Lexington Capital‘s 10th flagship programme, Blackstone‘s ninth – which is aiming for a first close later this year – and Landmark’s 17th equity secondaries fund.

Other asset classes are increasingly well represented in the market: Partners Group is in market with its real estate fund and Pemberton Asset Management is out with its credit fund.

The funds now in the market are targeting over $84 billion of capital, as Secondaries Investor reported late last month.

17Capital’s $4.5 billion for Fund V and its attendant co-investments and SMAs closed in early July and is not reflected in the above figures.