Introduction
Evercore's credit page for the first half of 2026 prints two volume figures for the same six months: $10 billion of equity commitments and $20 billion of deal value, the second including the debt placed inside credit continuation vehicles (CVs). Campbell Lutyens reports $9.8 billion and estimates $18.5 billion once CV leverage is added. The firms roughly agree on the equity buyers wrote; the headline doubles because a performing loan book can carry borrowing that a buyout stake rarely does. That gap is a fair warning for all three fast-diversifying segments. In the first-half 2026 reviews, credit ran past its 2025 record, infrastructure became a market of deals led by the general partner (GP), and venture held flat while buyers waited for exits.
The Three Segments on Each Survey's Basis
Evercore and Campbell Lutyens both count transaction volume as purchase price plus unfunded commitments; only Evercore's credit headline adds vehicle-level leverage. Jefferies publishes no segment totals, so the pricing column uses its LP portfolio pricing, the price of limited partner (LP) interests as a percentage of net asset value (NAV), with Campbell Lutyens' value-weighted LP-led discount in brackets.
| First half of 2026 | Evercore volume | Campbell Lutyens volume | Evercore dedicated dry powder | LP pricing: Jefferies (Campbell Lutyens discount) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Credit | $20bn incl. CV leverage ($10bn equity); about 83% GP-led | $9.8bn ($18.5bn with CV leverage); 72% GP-led | About $31bn of equity | 89% of NAV (5.1%) |
| Infrastructure | $12bn, up 33%; LP sales 16% | $10bn, roughly flat; 78% GP-led | About $22bn | 91% (5.0%) |
| Venture | About $5bn, flat; split evenly GP/LP | No segment total | About $10bn | 79% (32%) |
The pricing column describes LP sales, while most credit and infrastructure volume is now GP-led and priced separately, and the dry powder figures are Evercore's survey estimates of dedicated capital, not every buyer that might bid. The market-wide forward view is in the secondaries market outlook.
Credit: GP-Led Growth Ahead of Its Own Record
Volume, Supply and a European Example
Evercore's first-half 2026 credit secondaries review puts deal value at $20.4 billion, up 122% and already above full-year 2025. GP-led volume rose 183% to about $17 billion, while LP-led volume rose 7% to $3 billion. Supply came mainly from 2018 to 2021 vintage direct lending funds in their harvest periods, whose managers used CVs to offer liquidity before term extensions became necessary. Jefferies has credit rising to 15% of its GP-led volume from 13% for 2025.
Europe took 28% of the credit capital Evercore's respondents deployed. In September 2026 Bridgepoint Credit moved about €1.2 billion of senior secured loans from its 2017-vintage Bridgepoint Direct Lending II fund into a CV led by Pantheon, with Evercore advising and existing investors free to take cash or roll, as Private Equity Wire reported; why a lender runs one is set out in GP-leds beyond buyout. Credit CVs carry a choice buyout CVs rarely need: 34% of Evercore's first-half GP-led credit deals offered an unlevered sleeve.
- Unlevered Sleeve
An option within a secondaries fund or transaction that holds the same assets without vehicle-level borrowing, beside a levered option that uses it. It targets a lower return with less risk, widening the set of investors able to buy or roll.
Capital, Pricing and the Next Source of Supply
Evercore estimates dedicated equity dry powder at about $30.5 billion, more than 14% of all secondary dry powder, with over 90% of buyers planning to raise more within twelve months and 71% within six. Of that capital, 89% targets senior and unitranche loans, where buyers aim for levered net internal rates of return (IRRs) of 10% to 15%.
That capital prices close to the loans: GP-led credit deals averaged about 99% of fair market value, and Evercore's LP-led series shows senior credit at 92% of NAV and junior credit at 86%. Jefferies' 89% for credit LP portfolios, down from 91%, reflects more cautious underwriting, while Campbell Lutyens had the credit discount narrowing.
The next supply may come from outside closed-end funds. Evercore expects business development companies (BDCs), semi-liquid vehicles and interval funds to supply about 25% of 2026 credit secondary volume, citing Fitch data on redemption requests at non-traded BDCs up more than sixfold since the third quarter of 2025, the backdrop covered in what private credit stress means.
- Business Development Company (BDC)
A US closed-end investment company regulated under the Investment Company Act of 1940 that invests mainly in private middle-market companies, usually through loans. Non-traded BDCs offer only limited periodic repurchases, so heavy redemption requests push managers toward other sources of liquidity.
In Lazard's interim survey, 81% of respondents expect credit secondaries to outgrow other alternative asset classes, though Lazard says software-exposed portfolios have held issuance back. Campbell Lutyens forecasts a record $23 billion for full-year 2026 on its unlevered basis.
Infrastructure: A Segment Moving Into Continuation Vehicles
Volume and the Growth Disagreement
Evercore's first-half 2026 secondary market review counts $12 billion of infrastructure secondaries: single-asset CVs 55% of volume, multi-asset CVs 23%, preferred equity 5% and LP sales 16%. By strategy, core-plus assets took 65%, value-add 23% and core 9%. Evercore ties the shift to the asset class: long operating lives and capital needs that outlast a fund term suit a continuation trade better than an outright sale.
Campbell Lutyens' first-half 2026 report agrees on the mix and disagrees on the growth: $10 billion, roughly flat, with GP-led deals at 78% against 55% for 2025, as LPs under less liquidity pressure prefer to stay exposed.
Capital and Labelled Forecasts
Dedicated dry powder rose about 10% during the half to roughly $22 billion, concentrated among a small group of specialists targeting net returns of 13% to 15%. In July 2026 Partners Group closed its infrastructure secondaries program at more than $5.5 billion, including a $1.7 billion closed-end fund. Evercore notes that development, merchant and commodity exposure quickly narrows buyer appetite.
Every full-year number is a forecast. More than 60% of Evercore's respondents expect $20 billion to $30 billion or more for 2026; Campbell Lutyens forecasts $26 billion, which needs more than $16 billion in the second half; and a Jefferies team writing in June 2026 put the segment on course for about $30 billion, driven by artificial intelligence (AI) power demand and the build-out described in how data centers get financed.
Venture: Flat Volume and a Hollow Middle
Where the Volume Came From
Evercore counts about $5 billion of venture, flat on a year earlier and split evenly between GP-led and LP-led deals: LP sales 47%, continuation funds 29%, direct sales of single company stakes 17%, multi-asset directs 4% and strip sales 3%. Dedicated dry powder was flat at about $10 billion, modest relative to seller supply in Evercore's view, which keeps the segment buyer-favorable, and most buyers underwrite to net IRRs of 20% or more.
The friction is in the marks. Leading AI companies raise money often at escalating valuations, while the early-2026 software sell-off bled into private marks and widened bid-ask spreads. Jefferies has venture LP pricing up 100 basis points to 79% of NAV, with demand concentrated on top-tier managers and AI beneficiaries; Campbell Lutyens' venture discount widened to 32% from 26% on heavy software concentration. Evercore calls the result K-shaped pricing with a hollow middle: top-quartile franchises clear at a modest discount or better, weaker funds far worse.
The Boundary With Company-Led Liquidity
The surveys measure trades in fund interests and fund-held stakes. Evercore defines a tender offer as a GP-led process letting LPs sell interests at a set price, so company-run programs in which employees sell shares fall outside that definition and its counts. Buyers straddle the line: TrueBridge closed its second venture secondaries fund at $508 million in September 2026 to buy both fund interests and direct stakes in venture-backed companies, its announcement said.
Evercore and Jefferies both expect reopening initial public offering (IPO) and mergers and acquisitions windows to lift fund-level volume, the market traced in the 2026 IPO boom, and more than 84% of Evercore's buyers expect growth. That is an expectation; the first half recorded none.
What the Segment Data Tells an Advisor
Depth follows a narrower description than the segment name. In credit, the deep pool is for senior and unitranche loan books sold GP-led near fair value; second lien, mezzanine and distressed strategies hold 11% of Evercore's credit capital. In infrastructure it is for cash-generative core-plus single assets, where Evercore stresses early anchor formation. In venture it is deep only at the top. How specialists underwrite each strategy is covered in specialist buyers for credit, infrastructure, venture, and real estate.
The capital data add timing. Credit's pool is refilling fastest, with 71% of buyers back in market within six months; infrastructure's grew about a tenth in the half and stays concentrated; venture's did not grow. A process meets today's buyers at the first round, but final bids arrive after more fundraising has closed or stalled, so what matters for a segment sale is less how deep a pool looks in the latest review than whether it will be deeper or thinner when the final bids come in.
