Continuation Vehicles: Beyond the chequered flag

Record volumes and growing sophistication confirm continuation vehicles as a structural feature of private markets

GP-led transaction volumes hit a record $108 billion in 2025, up from $77 billion in 2024 and more than 13x the $8 billion recorded a decade ago¹. Single-asset continuation vehicles are now the most prevalent transaction format, with 29% of deals now exceeding $1 billion¹. The secondary market is structurally underfunded relative to primary private capital, with just one year of dry powder, giving investors significant selectivity to ensure the quality of their investment decision making remains high.

Continuation vehicles have become what Nigel Dawn of Evercore describes as ‘the third door of liquidity‘ for GPs, alongside M&A and IPOs². Rather than being forced by fund timelines to sell high-performing assets to competitors, GPs can transfer those assets into a new vehicle, maintain control, and pursue the next stage of value creation — while offering existing LPs a genuine choice: exit at fair value, or roll forward and capture further upside.