CVC Capital Partners has closed its $10 billion Secondary Opportunities Fund VI, marking the firm's largest secondaries fund ever and more than 70% bigger than its 2023 predecessor. The fund drew commitments from more than 200 investors, with roughly half being new to CVC's secondaries platform rather than repeat LPs from Fund V. This massive raise comes as the global secondaries market experienced a record $118-121 billion in transaction volume during the first half of 2026, according to Jefferies and Evercore, putting the full year on pace to exceed 2025's record of $233-260 billion. The fundraising success reflects the unprecedented capital deployment in the secondaries market, with dedicated dry powder estimated at roughly $290 billion heading into the second half of 2026, as reported by Jefferies.
The secondaries market is experiencing significant pricing compression as capital supply reaches record levels. LP portfolio stakes now trade around 87% of net asset value in the first half of 2026, essentially flat versus year-end 2025 and down from wider discounts seen a few years earlier when the denominator effect of 2022 pushed discounts as wide as 75-80% of NAV. Single-asset continuation vehicles are now pricing at par or roughly 14% above NAV, meaning the discount cushion that historically justified secondary market complexity has compressed or disappeared for the most sought-after deals. GP-led transaction volume reached $65 billion in the first half, up 35% year over year, while single-asset continuation vehicles grew 88% to $34 billion and now represent 53% of all GP-led activity. This shift toward premium pricing for quality assets is creating challenges for traditional discount-seeking strategies.
Investors are increasingly seeking seasoned credit assets with visible track records, moving beyond fresh fund commitments to evaluate repayment history, borrower performance, and expected cash flows. According to reports from Mint, Aakash Desai, Chief Investment Officer and Head of Private Credit at 360 ONE Asset, noted that "we are seeing a lot of opportunities for takeouts" with increased refinancing activity compared to two years ago. Global investors are also expressing interest in established Indian credit exposures, with Desai observing that "global buyers are more evolved—they want to buy mature, seasoned assets." Companies like Axis and ICICI Prudential have moved into successive funds while their earlier vintages mature, providing investors greater visibility into underlying assets and realised returns. The wealth channel is already showing up directly in major secondaries funds, with Ardian's ASF IX, which closed at $30 billion in 2024, taking roughly 22% of its capital from private wealth investors, up from 11% in its prior vintage. 360 ONE has been one of the pioneers in this strategy in India — we raised India's first and largest Secondaries Fund of ₹5,000 crore in 2024-25, with the fund already over 90% deployed having executed several early secondary transactions.
Most transactions in India today involve refinancings or early sell-downs rather than investor-to-investor portfolio trades typical of mature credit-secondary markets. As reported by Mint, Vishal Bansal, partner at EY, explained that "in India, the sell down generally happens either immediately at the time of transaction closure or within a short span of the investment, say three to six months." Unlike developed markets, there are generally no "super profits" being made by investors through such early sell-downs. The global market illustrates the potential, with Ares Management raising $7.1 billion for its debut Ares Credit Secondaries Fund and Coller Capital's dedicated credit-secondary fund having exposure to about 1,660 portfolio companies across 34 managers as of March 2026. GP-led transactions now represent the majority share at 53% of total volume, up from 2021 levels, with single-asset continuation vehicles becoming the preferred structure for sponsors seeking to monetize trophy assets.
Despite growing demand, Pranob Gupta, managing director and business head for India alternatives at Lighthouse Canton, identified supply constraints as the primary challenge, stating that "appetite exists on the demand side; the supply side is the real question." According to Mint, differences in fund processes, limited information sharing, lack of uniform rating frameworks, and managers' preference for originating primary deals remain key constraints. The first wave of domestic AIFs launched between 2018 and 2022 may be approaching maturity, potentially creating more natural sellers. Desai expects the shift to become more visible over the next three to five years, as managers build track records across multiple credit cycles and demonstrate that their portfolios can withstand stress. However, the compressed pricing environment and record capital deployment are creating new challenges for traditional discount-seeking strategies, with Bain & Company's research finding more than half of LPs say their tolerance ceiling for exit discounts is just 5% of last reported mark, squeezing general partners into narrow valuation corridors. The Indian secondary market is steadily gaining momentum, supported by the emergence of dedicated domestic funds and gradually increasing interest from global investors, with global annual transaction volumes now exceeding US$200 billion.
