The Rise of Secondaries: Unlocking Liquidity in Private Markets

Exchanges

Goldman Sachs

Business

4.4 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 October 2025

⏱️ 18 minutes

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Summary

Once a niche segment, the private equity secondaries market has seen substantial growth and is reshaping the broader alternative asset landscape. In this episode, Goldman Sachs’ Harold Hope and Alex Blostein discuss the evolution of the private equity secondaries market. This episode was recorded on September 29, 2025. The opinions and views expressed herein are as of the date of publication, subject to change without notice, and may not necessarily reflect the institutional views of Goldman Sachs or its affiliates. The material provided is intended for informational purposes only, and does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation from any Goldman Sachs entity to take any particular action, or an offer or solicitation to purchase or sell any securities or financial products. This material may contain forward-looking statements. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Neither Goldman Sachs nor any of its affiliates make any representations or warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the statements or information contained herein and disclaim any liability whatsoever for reliance on such information for any purpose. Each name of a third-party organization mentioned is the property of the company to which it relates, is used here strictly for informational and identification purposes only and is not used to imply any ownership or license rights between any such company and Goldman Sachs. A transcript is provided for convenience and may differ from the original video or audio content. Goldman Sachs is not responsible for any errors in the transcript. This material should not be copied, distributed, published, or reproduced in whole or in part or disclosed by any recipient to any other person without the express written consent of Goldman Sachs. Disclosures applicable to research with respect to issuers, if any, mentioned herein are available through your Goldman Sachs representative or at http://www.gs.com/research/hedge.html. © 2025 Goldman Sachs. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	A lot of investors are now taking a second look at secondaries.
0:08.8	Once a niche corner of the financial world, private equity secondary funds, which by existing
0:14.3	stakes from other PE funds, have experienced substantial growth over the past few years.
0:19.5	So what does the growth tell us about private markets
0:21.5	as a whole and what role can secondaries play in portfolios today? I'm Allison Nathan and this is
0:27.0	Goldman Sachs exchanges. Today I'm joined by my colleagues Harold Hope and Alex Blasstein. Alex
0:35.2	covers US asset managers and other financial companies for Goldman Sachs
0:39.0	Research. And Harold sits in our asset and wealth management division, where he is the global
0:43.4	head of Venge's strategies, one of the world's largest secondary fund managers. Harold, Alex, welcome
0:49.4	to the program. Thank you. Thanks for having us. So Harold, let's start at a very basic level here.
0:55.0	What is secondaries investing?
0:57.1	And tell us a little bit about the history of the space.
1:00.0	We really love the private equity model, but one of the big drawbacks is that it's very
1:03.7	illiquid.
1:04.7	And private equity investments can often last 10, 15 years or longer.
1:08.6	What we're doing in the secondaries is really providing liquidity to folks
1:12.0	who have invested in these long-dated illiquid assets before their natural termination. So if you're
1:18.1	in a private equity investment that's going to last 15 years and you want to get out in year five or
1:22.3	six or seven or eight, we'll come in and buy your interest out early and will ultimately hold it to
1:27.3	maturity. So the market
1:28.8	started really as a handful of small specialist firms who were doing a couple of transactions a year
1:35.4	from people who really needed liquidity. And it's developed into a much larger market, many more
	...

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