Impact Investing

The impact secondaries firm has hired a veteran of sustainable private equity investing in anticipation of 'a lot of selling activity' by institutional investors.

The amount of dry powder dedicated to impact secondaries increased markedly in 2022 – if from a very low base.

The market passed the $100bn mark in 2021, according to research by VC secondaries specialist Industry Ventures.

The firm has seen several examples of transactions that it previously passed on being relaunched with refreshed pricing.

Impacts from the broader economy, such as inflation, geopolitical turmoil and slower growth, have made it tougher to value assets in secondaries processes, with a wide gap between buyer and seller expectations.

Of the sellers, 12% said they had tapped the secondaries market to offload private credit fund interests more than once.

The impact secondaries firm has shifted the focus of its clean growth strategy recently to preferred equity structured transactions from traditional LP interests.

GP-led activity is picking up thanks to a decline in exit activity during the pandemic and rising familiarity with the practice.

Institutional investors in real estate are becoming increasingly informed on the benefits of manager-led secondary deals in particular, writes Lazard's James Jacobs.

Uncertainty linked to the pandemic and other macro forces is driving an increase in real estate secondaries transaction volume.