History of secondaries

An evolving market

The continuing evolution of private equity itself – and especially its explosive growth in the last few years – made the development of a robust secondary market both necessary and inevitable.

Coller Capital's name is synonymous with the development of the secondaries market

Secondaries timeline

  • 1984

    First secondaries fund raised by VCFA

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    1984
  • 1988

    Secondaries are a fringe activity

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    1988
  • 1990

    The largest secondaries fund, managed by Adams Street Partners, attracts commitments of £111m

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    1990
  • 1994

    Secondaries remain a ‘cottage industry’

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    1994
  • 1997

    The secondaries market continues growing slowly, but remains a localized phenomenon

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    1997
  • 1998

    The first secondaries fund with a global mandate - Coller International Partners II

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    1998
  • 2000

    First $1 billion secondaries investment - Coller leads acquisition from NatWest

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    2000
  • 2001

    Direct secondaries market takes off – Coller's Bell Labs acquisition

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    2001
  • 2002

    First $2 billion+ secondaries Fund – Coller International Partners IV

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    2002
  • 2003

    Largest secondaries deal completed (€1.5bn)

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    2003
  • 2004

    Largest unsyndicated secondaries investment of its time – Coller's Abbey acquisition

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    2004
  • 2005

    Annual volume of secondaries transactions exceeds $8bn

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    2005
  • 2006

    Annual secondaries transactions exceed $10 billion

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    2006
  • 2007

    Coller Capital raises the largest secondaries fund of its time – Coller International Partners V

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    2007
  • 2008

    Credit crunch volatility impacts secondaries transactions volume

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    2008
  • 2009

    Secondaries market in limbo

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    2009
  • 2010

    The volume of secondaries transactions exceeds $20 billion for the first time

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    2010
  • 2011

    The volume of secondaries transactions reaches $24 billion – a ten-fold increase on a decade earlier

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    2011
  • 2012

    Volume of secondaries transactions sets new record with $25 billion

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    2012
  • 2013

    Market digests bank disposals and ‘portfolio management’ sales by pension plans

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    2013
  • 2014

    Secondary market volumes leap to $40 billion as financial institutions comply with regulatory change

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    2014
  • 2015

    GP-led liquidity solutions become a significant part of the secondary market

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    2015
  • 2016

    The secondary market continues to evolve and diversify into new assets and areas

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    2016
  • 2017

    Private equity’s secondary market scaled new heights, buying and selling approximately $52 billion of assets – a 40% rise in volume over 2016

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    2017
  • 2018

    2018 was another bumper year for the secondary market, with global transactions leaping in volume to a record $72bn.

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    2018
  • 2019

    The private equity secondaries market hit a new high, with transaction volume of $85bn.

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    2019
  • 2020

    Private equity secondary transaction volume was impacted by the Covid-19 crisis early in the year, before rebounding, supported by GP-led transactions.

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    2020
  • 2021

    The private capital secondary market ended the year strongly, with global transaction volume reaching a new high of $130bn.

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    2021
  • 2022

    The private capital secondary market continues to diversify, with strong growth forecast beyond the core PE segment.

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    2022