The $210 billion secondaries boom, explained: where Blue Owl Capital fits in

Private equity secondaries — the buying and selling of existing stakes in PE funds and portfolio companies — had a record-shattering year in 2025. Deal activity reached $165 billion through the first three quarters, putting the market on pace to clear $210 billion for the full year, according to data compiled by Ropes & Gray from Evercore, Jefferies, and PJT Partners. Blackstone’s Verdun Perry projected the annual figure could climb to $400 billion by 2030.

Capital available for deployment grew alongside deal volume. Dedicated secondary dry powder reached a record $302 billion by the middle of 2025, per Jefferies. The share of overall private fundraising flowing into secondaries vehicles has more than tripled since 2021, rising from 2.7% to 8.9% — a shift from a specialized niche toward something closer to a core allocation for institutional portfolios.

How the secondaries market hit record volume in 2025

Several forces converged. Limited partners continued to deal with over-allocation to private equity, a condition that had worsened during years of slow exits and sluggish distributions. LP-led transactions totaled $56 billion in the first half of 2025, while GP-led deals added another $47 billion. Fundraising for secondaries vehicles also set records, with $122.6 billion raised over the trailing four quarters ending in Q3 2025, according to PitchBook’s Global Private Market Fundraising Report.

Buyout fund stakes attracted the most buyer interest and the highest pricing, with LP-led buyout secondaries averaging 94% of net asset value in the first half of 2025. Narrowing bid-ask spreads and a skew toward younger vintages helped sustain these levels.

Why LP-led and GP-led deals are both surging

LP-led transactions are driven by portfolio rebalancing — pension funds, endowments, and sovereign wealth funds selling stakes to manage concentration and free up liquidity. GP-led deals serve a different purpose: sponsors initiating transactions to extend ownership of their strongest assets, typically through continuation vehicles. GP-led volume grew 68% year over year through midyear 2025, fueled by a jump in multi-asset CVs and growing comfort among buyers with the deal structure.

Evergreen retail vehicles added a new dimension. Roughly $16 billion was raised for evergreen pools in H1 2025, with about 60% directed toward secondaries. These vehicles now account for nearly one-third of all secondary fundraising.

Blue Owl Capital’s entry at the $3 billion level

Blue Owl Capital closed BOSE, its inaugural secondaries fund, at approximately $3 billion in February 2026. Co-CEOs Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz described the reception: “We’re very pleased with the strong reception to our strategy, which reflects the growing need for private capital solutions across the market.”

At $3 billion, BOSE is mid-tier among dedicated GP-led funds — Intermediate Capital Group closed an $11 billion vehicle in March 2025, still the category’s largest. But Blue Owl’s distribution to both institutional and private wealth clients gives the firm an unusual dual-channel fundraising model that few secondaries-focused competitors can match.

Read: Blue Owl’s debut GP-led strategy closes on more than $3bn