The Carlyle Group has raised $20bn to deploy into the booming private equity secondaries market, as investors look to offload holdings built up during a slowdown in IPO and M&A activity, according to a report by Reuters.
Carlyle’s AlpInvest Partners business collected $15bn for its flagship secondaries vehicle, alongside $3.2bn in co-investment commitments and an additional $2bn from private wealth channels, the firm confirmed.
The raise comes as private equity managers grapple with a backlog of assets. According to Bain & Company, some 29,000 portfolio companies worth $3.6 trillion were sitting on buyout firms’ books at the end of 2024, many awaiting exits.
The secondaries market has become a key release valve, giving LPs liquidity—often at discounts to previous valuations—while offering buyers access to diversified portfolios. Bain data show the asset class nearly doubled in size between 2019 and 2024, with $601 billion in assets now representing around 5% of global private equity AUM.
