Dry Powder: The Private Equity Podcast

The Rise of the Secondaries Market: From Backwater to Boomtown

Nigel Dawn, senior managing director at Evercore, explains how GPs and LPs are discovering new tools and techniques to finance deals.

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The Rise of the Secondaries Market: From Backwater to Boomtown
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Two decades ago, the secondaries market was viewed as a sort of industry backwater, a place where investors worried that doing any trading at all signified a mistake. 

 

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“It was almost akin to asking your spouse for a divorce, if you were to call up a GP and say, ‘I want to sell my fund,’” recalls Nigel Dawn, the senior managing director at Evercore. Times have changed, however, and on today’s episode of Dry Powder, Nigel walks us through the rapid evolution of the secondaries market.  

We talk about the tools that are now available to GPs and LPs, from continuation funds to NAV loans to private IPOs. We also consider whether the secondaries market could continue its remarkable growth spurt. 

“In 2004, the whole market was $6 billion,” Nigel says. “A medium-sized secondary fund now is $6 billion.” 

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The Private Equity Podcast

In our podcast series, Bain's Hugh MacArthur interviews leading experts on the trends and opportunities that will redefine the private equity industry.

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