StepStone Targets $7B Across New Secondaries and Continuation Fund Vehicles

StepStone Launches Dual Secondaries Platform Targeting $7 Billion StepStone Group, one of the world's leading private markets investment platforms, is targeting a combined $7 billion across two new vehicles designed to capitalize on the booming secondaries market. The dual strategy — pairing an LP-led fund with a GP-led continuation vehicle — reflects how sophisticated managers are building integrated secondaries platforms to capture liquidity demand across the full spectrum. Fund Structure and Strategy Secondary Opportunities Fund (~$6B): Acquires existing LP stakes in private equity funds from institutional investors seeking liquidity. Follows the prior vehicle which closed at $4.8B in 2024. Continuation Fund Strategy (~$1B): Participates in GP-led transactions, primarily single-asset continuation vehicles, with flexibility to engage in multi-asset structures and co-investments. Market Context: Record Volume Driving Urgency According to Jefferies data, global secondaries transaction volumes reached $103 billion in H1 2025 — already on pace to surpass full-year records. This surge is driven by a prolonged IPO drought and limited distributions from buyout funds, pushing LPs to seek secondary exits for portfolio rebalancing. With more than $600 billion of dry powder across global private equity funds, the demand for liquidity solutions is expected to intensify throughout 2026. Competitive Landscape StepStone joins a growing cohort of large-cap secondaries managers scaling up capacity. Ardian, Lexington Partners, and Blackstone's Strategic Partners have all recently expanded their platforms. Blackstone's Strategic Partners Fund X recently held an initial close of $5 billion, with another major close expected imminently. Single-asset continuation funds have emerged as the fastest-growing sub-segment, as GPs seek to retain high-quality assets while still delivering liquidity to LPs. Why This Matters for Private Markets StepStone's $7B dual-fund raise signals that the secondaries market has firmly graduated from a niche liquidity mechanism to a mainstream institutional asset class. The deliberate pairing of LP-led and GP-led strategies under one platform reflects a broader convergence — buyers increasingly demand exposure to both channels. For sellers, this deepening liquidity pool means tighter spreads and more competitive pricing, particularly for premier buyout fund stakes and single-asset continuation vehicles featuring quality portfolio companies.