It's Official: The Secondary Market Slumped in 2009
2009 was supposed to be a banner year for private equity secondaries. Buyers had raised record amounts of fund capital (i.e., purchasing power), while the recession had generated a profusion of liquidity-challenged sellers. Supply and demand and all that jazz. But it just didn't happen. NYPPEX Private Markets later today will release data on the 2009 secondaries market, showing a 39% decrease in indirect secondary transaction volume between 2008 and 2009. We're not allowed to publish the report itself, but can share some of the highlights: *** There was $12.3 billion of Indirect secondaries activity in 2009 (i.e., selling of LP interests), compared to $20.31 billion in 2008. The primary driver here was a lingering bid-ask gap, in which both buyers and sellers assumed the other would budge. NYPPEX suggests that some late-year movement did come from
