At this time last year, the secondary market was steadily regaining momentum after shedding some of the uncertainty that had hung over it in 2023. This year, that momentum has shifted into overdrive, pushing secondary deal volume to a record first half during the first six months of 2025.

The tremendous recovery in deal activity is also reflected in our latest WSJ Pro’s Guide to the Secondary Market Buyer Survey, with the highest percentage of buyers predicting a record year for deal activity since at least 2009. Increasingly, secondaries have become a liquidity- and portfolio-management tool both for private-equity managers and the investors that back them.

As we delve into our survey data this year, we look at the trends shaping pricing and transactions both for fund portfolios and the increasingly important general partner-led market. We also examine forces shaping buyer sentiment toward secondary transactions in markets outside of the U.S., delve into the factors driving private-credit secondaries and even explore the market for secondary fundraising.

We hope you find this special report informative and, as always, welcome your feedback and suggestions as to how we can refine and improve it for next year’s edition.

In this newsletter, we present highlights from the issue. Enjoy and download the entire report here.

And now on to the news...

On April 2, when President Trump imposed tariffs on nearly all the
world’s countries, investors in secondary deals set their pencils
down, putting an abrupt stop to what had been a blockbuster
first quarter.

Buyers steeled themselves for a period of uncertainty while they tried to figure out the impact of the new levies on corporate valuations, and, by extension, pricing for deals, Rod James writes for WSJ Pro. However, the market had bounced back within a couple of months as the administration flip-flopped and eventually rolled back some of its initial tariff proposals.

Secondary deals driven by private-equity sponsors, typically referred to as general partner-led deals, are set to break records for the second consecutive year. As transaction volume grows, some firms are using GP-led deals a second time to recapitalize the same asset or set of assets from GP-led transactions they completed several years ago, WSJ Pro's Rod James reports.

Secondary fundraising remains robust in 2025 with many established firms raising much larger capital pools than they did in the past and newcomers making a mark with sizable debut funds, Laura Kreutzer writes for WSJ Pro.

Several factors are converging to support growth in secondary fundraising, most notably the sustained rise of secondary deal activity, particularly among general partner-led transactions. At the same time, rising demand for private-markets investments among wealthy individuals has bolstered fund coffers for certain secondary firms, particularly the larger ones.

North America continues to be the biggest market for secondary transactions, but buyers see plenty of promise in other regions, driven by a demand for liquidity among investors worldwide, Laura Kreutzer writes for WSJ Pro.

Meanwhile, secondary deals driven by private-equity sponsors themselves, typically referred to as general partner-led deals, are also gaining traction in many countries outside of the U.S.

The secondary market for private-credit assets may be much smaller and younger than its private-equity counterpart, but it is rapidly gaining ground, Isaac Taylor writes for WSJ Pro.

WSJ Pro Venture Capital is a premium service of The Wall Street Journal. We cover venture capital and the global startup ecosystem. Share your tips, comments and questions: vcnews@wsj.com

The Team: Matthew Strozier, Yuliya Chernova, Brian Gormley and Marc Vartabedian.

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