Private credit secondaries volume hits $20 billion in H1 2026, already surpassing full-year 2025 total as GP-led transactions dominate

Deal volume in the private credit secondaries market reached $20 billion in the first half of 2026, already exceeding the full-year 2025 total, according to the Evercore H1 2026 Secondary Market Review released on 21 July. The private credit secondaries market allows investors to buy and sell stakes in private credit funds or portfolios of loans held by those funds, providing a liquidity mechanism in an asset class that is otherwise illiquid. GP-led transactions, which typically involve a fund manager creating a continuation vehicle to hold assets beyond a fund's scheduled end date, accounted for $17 billion of the first-half volume. Pricing held firm: Evercore noted that competitive tension for high-quality senior portfolios continued to support pricing near or above fair market value, even as buyers became more selective. Dedicated equity dry powder (capital raised but not yet deployed) available to private credit secondary buyers stands at approximately $31 billion, with more than 90% of buyers expecting to raise additional capital within 12 months. Ares Management had earlier raised $7 billion for a private credit secondary fund from institutional investors in 2026, illustrating the scale at which dedicated vehicles are entering this space. Total assets managed across all private credit secondary vehicles are estimated in the tens of billions of dollars, against more than $2 trillion across the wider private credit market. Growing liquidity pressures in primary private credit funds, as investors seek exits, are creating an opening for secondary buyers to work directly with fund managers rather than purchasing distressed assets from individual investors seeking liquidity.