PRIVATE MARKETS NOW HAVE ACTIVE STOCK PRICES: Use Investor Relations
The secondary market is no longer a workaround for distressed sellers — it is permanent infrastructure for private capital.
LPs and GPs now use the private secondary market to manage liquidity and reposition exposure as a matter of course. It is no longer an emergency exit or a distress signal. Companies can no longer assume their cap table is stable.
| Metric | 2025 Reality |
| Global secondary transaction volume | $226 billion, up 41% from 2024¹ |
| GP-led secondaries growth (2017–2025) | 30% CAGR; now ~half of all volume² |
| NAV trapped in older vintages | Over $1 trillion³ |
| Dedicated capital chasing deals | ~$302 billion, mid-2025⁴ |
| Secondary share of private capital raised | 18% in 2025, up from 7% in 2021² |
The implication is bigger than the volume. Once a market trades regularly, pricing discipline affects dynamics. With continuous pricing, participants compare managers and companies to judge value and clear reporting as well as proactive communication is required for defensible valuations. These dynamics have existed for decades in the public markets and now that private markets are gaining secondary market liquidity, public market best practices especially around investor relations (“IR”) are migrating into private capital. Every participant needs to pay attention to two shifts that follow directly.
Shift One: Your Investor Base Now Includes Unknown People
In a market with active secondaries, your capital base is no longer just the LPs or shareholders on your cap table. It includes every potential buyer of a stake in your fund, your continuation vehicle, or your private company shares — and they could be doing diligence whether you’re talking to them or not. If they are interested in becoming a capital source, they will triangulate your marks and look for relevant information.
In the fund and company private markets IR has historically been reactive. Answer questions when they come in, send the report when it’s ready, run the next round or fundraise when it’s time. That posture is no longer enough. The firms and companies getting the best outcomes today treat IR as continuous: clean data rooms, machine-readable reporting, consistent valuation methodology, and proactive communication with the broader buyer universe well before any specific transaction.
Get this wrong and it shows up as a discount. Get it right and it shows up as tighter spreads, better counterparties, and optionality. Optionality includes the optionality of doing nothing, because existing capital already has liquidity when its needed.
Shift Two: The Best Talent Will Know Your Secondary Pricing
This is the part most organizations haven’t internalized and it lands hardest on private companies, where equity is often a central part of the offer.
Where the secondary market prices capital is a public signal and potential talent is watching it. A senior engineer weighing two offers will compare which company’s stock has traded on the secondaries. A candidate sitting on options at their current employer will track the secondary price to decide whether to stay, exercise, or move. Recruiters quote secondary marks in pitches. Employees check them before they sign. The secondary print or lack thereof is now part of the comp conversation.
The same dynamic applies to funds. A senior investor weighing where to spend the next stage of their career will look at whether the last vintage trades at NAV or a discount. A junior analyst choosing between two firms will, increasingly, see secondary pricing as a real-time scoreboard.
Public market firms have lived with this forever — equity prices are part of the employment proposition. Private companies and private fund managers are now joining them, whether they planned to or not. The ones that recognize this will manage secondary pricing as a strategic asset. The ones that don’t will lose recruiting battles.
How to Use the Secondary Market for Best Outcomes
| Action | What It Means |
| Treat secondaries as a portfolio and capital tool | Build expected secondary activity into the original plan. Tactical sellers get better pricing than forced sellers. |
| Know your secondary market value — before you need to know | Get current pricing reads on your largest positions, fund interests, and company shares. Don’t learn mid-transaction. |
| Run IR like a public company | Clean reporting, consistent valuations, proactive communication, a data room open to qualified buyers beyond current investors. Assume the next stakeholder will reward transparency. |
| Manage your secondary pricing as a franchise and recruiting asset | Secondary market valuations are valuable to your on-going operations. Incorporate them into your ongoing capital strategy. |
Sources:
¹ J.P. Morgan, citing PitchBook, Private market secondaries are booming amid an IPO slowdown, 2026. ² Neuberger Berman, Private Equity Secondaries: From Niche to Necessary, 2026. ³ With Intelligence, Private Equity Trends in 2025, August 2025. ⁴ Jefferies, H1 2025 Global Secondary Market Review, July 2025.
