Blackstone’s Strategic Partners has acquired approximately $5bn in private equity stakes from the New York City Retirement Systems, marking one of the largest secondary transactions ever executed by a US public pension, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The report cites a statement from the NYC Comptroller’s Office as revealing that the deal encompasses 450 limited partnership interests across 125 funds managed by 75 GPs, and was initiated as part of a strategic portfolio realignment, rather than for liquidity reasons, according to a statement from the NYC Comptroller’s Office.
The transaction follows a formal auction process launched in December 2024, which attracted interest from over 80 secondary buyers. Evercore served as financial advisor, with Morgan Lewis providing legal counsel.
While terms of the deal were not disclosed, large secondary transactions of this scale are typically executed at a discount to NAV, reflecting the illiquidity of the assets and the complexity of pricing mature fund interests.
The move comes amid an ongoing surge in secondary market activity, as institutional investors seek to rebalance portfolios constrained by slower distributions, driven in part by a persistent slowdown in M&A and IPO activity. Higher interest rates have further dampened exit volumes, leaving many LPs over-allocated to private equity and prompting them to explore secondary sales to manage denominator effects.
Returns from the NYC pension system’s private equity portfolio have lagged national peers, with fiscal year 2024 gains in the 4–5% range, compared to 10.9% at CalPERS and 8.6% at CalSTRS. The transaction with Blackstone may reflect a broader reassessment of private market exposure, rather than a reflection of short-term capital needs.
The New York City Retirement Systems, collectively managing over $270bn in AUM, includes five pension funds serving teachers, civil employees, firefighters, police officers, and education workers.
Strategic Partners, Blackstone’s secondaries platform, is among the largest players in the market, having raised over $67bn across asset classes.
