The GP-Led Market and the Single-Asset CV Shift

Introduction

Nearly all of the growth in the GP-led market in the first half of 2026 came from one structure. In Evercore's first-half 2026 secondary market review, transactions initiated by the general partner (GP) rose to $65 billion from $48 billion a year earlier, while single-asset continuation vehicles (CVs) rose 88% to about $34 billion. That implies roughly $16 billion of the $17 billion increase came from vehicles holding one company, while multi-asset CVs, preferred equity and tender offers together were nearly flat at about $31 billion. Campbell Lutyens, counting its own sample, reached the same conclusion. The shift reaches beyond the mix: it shows in pricing, where one-company vehicles clear near par and diversified ones at wider discounts, in the terms buyers concede to win trophy assets, and in how an advisor designs a process.

The single-asset share rose in all four first-half reviews, though not all on the same base. For comparison, Evercore's 2025 record of $106 billion comprised $52 billion of single-asset CVs, $42 billion of multi-asset CVs and $12 billion of other deals, the last leg of the run traced in the secondaries growth cycle.

The rows are not one market measured four times. Campbell Lutyens groups single-asset and highly concentrated vehicles together, and Jefferies' July 2026 review reports single-asset deals only as a share of CVs, which make up 89% of its $62 billion GP-led total. Why neither structure reliably prices better on the same assets is covered in continuation vehicles explained.

Highly Concentrated Continuation Vehicle

A continuation vehicle holding a few companies, with most of its value in one or two of them. Some surveys, including Campbell Lutyens', count it with single-asset CVs because buyers underwrite it company by company.

Preferred Equity, Tenders and Direct Deals

The non-CV bucket moved differently by survey. Lazard's interim 2026 secondary market report has preferred equity and other structured solutions rising to 14% of GP-led volume from 10% in 2025, while tender offers and strip sales slipped to 2%. Campbell Lutyens counts preferred equity outside GP-led and found its share of the whole market doubled from 2025 to 10%, or $12 billion, against $4 billion a year earlier. Evercore's other bucket combines GP-led preferred equity, direct secondary deals and tender offers, the last explained in tender offers and strip sales.

Two surveys say yes. Jefferies' $62 billion was 53% of its first-half total, its first GP-led majority since 2021, and Evercore's $65 billion was 54%, up from 47% for 2025. Two say not yet. Lazard's roughly $61 billion was about 49% of its $124 billion, and Lazard grades its own prediction that GP-leds will overtake sales by limited partners (LPs) as too early to determine. Campbell Lutyens' first-half 2026 report has GP-led and LP-led volume tied at $54 billion each.

Part of the split is classification. Campbell Lutyens books preferred equity as a third category, whose growth it credits to structured solutions at the GP level, whereas Evercore counts GP-led preferred equity inside GP-led; Lazard's structured bucket excludes certain direct secondary sales that Evercore records as GP-led directs. Sampling does the rest, and the survey rules are laid out in where the secondaries market stands.

Every survey that prices GP-leds by structure shows the same split: single-asset vehicles clearing at or near par, multi-asset vehicles at wider discounts to reference-date net asset value (NAV), and, where a 2025 comparison exists, a wider gap.

Campbell Lutyens attributes the multi-asset widening less to weaker demand than to deal composition: 45% of its first-half multi-asset CVs held eight or more assets, and buyers struggled to underwrite premium prices across that many growth profiles. Lazard adds that pricing is becoming sector-dependent, with buyers relying less on sponsor-marked NAV for software after the SaaS valuation reset.

Deals That Failed or Paused

The table describes deals that closed. Lazard's respondents reported that about 27% of transactions failed or paused in the first half, and single-asset deals missing pricing expectations appear less likely to close: the share of Lazard's buyout single-asset volume priced at 91-95% of NAV fell from 20% in 2025 to 5%. Evercore calls the softness localized, in select technology, energy and infrastructure processes.

Survivorship Bias (CV Pricing)

The upward tilt in reported pricing statistics when only completed transactions are counted. Deals that fail because bids fall short of the seller's expectations drop out of the sample, so the share priced at or above par can rise without any buyer paying more.

Paused deals are not all lost: Lazard suggests some technology processes could return as software valuations stabilize and bid-ask spreads narrow.

Premium Carry, Super-Carry, Deferrals and Rollover

Buyers competing for trophy assets pay in terms as well as price. Lazard found premium carry tiers, extra carried interest for the GP above set return hurdles, in about 39% of deals, up from 25% in 2025, and Evercore says super-carry features in more than a third of GP-led transactions; the tier mechanics are in CV economics. Deferred consideration remains the exception: 84% of Evercore's first-half GP-led volume had none, against 66% of LP-led volume, and GP-led deferrals mostly settled within twelve months. Jefferies puts average LP rollover at 14%, stable as demand to join CVs was offset by a higher premium on liquidity.

Software Down, Infrastructure Up

The early-2026 software repricing, which Evercore says took roughly $2 trillion off public software value, pushed software out of GP-led deal flow, and both Jefferies and Lazard saw industrials, business services and healthcare take up much of the displaced volume.

By asset class, infrastructure rose to 16% of Evercore's GP-led volume from 4% in 2025, with private credit steady at 11%, while Campbell Lutyens has infrastructure at 14% and credit at 13%. Both segments are followed in credit, infrastructure, and venture secondaries trends.

Adoption and the ILPA Draft

Sponsor adoption keeps broadening: Jefferies counts 82 of the top 100 sponsors by assets under management as having executed a CV, and CVs held at 14% of sponsor-backed exit volume. Scrutiny has grown with it. In June 2026 the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) published draft continuation vehicle guidance, with a comment period that closed on August 5, 2026. Its main proposals include an election period of at least 30 business days from a complete election pack, an anonymized summary of all final-round bids for every LP, an option for the limited partner advisory committee (LPAC) to hire its own financial advisor at the existing fund's expense, reinvestment of all crystallized carry by the GP, and LPAC review of advisors' success fees. ILPA recommends rather than requires, as the ILPA guidance article explains.

The shift moves where scarcity sits in a process. In a trophy single-asset deal the scarce input is the asset: Jefferies reports that pre-emptive transactions gained momentum and that syndicate capital for deals under $750 million has significantly decreased, as buyers compete to underwrite the entire equity. Lead selection becomes the main lever, because a pre-emptive offer brings speed and certainty but ends the competition that justifies the price, while co-leads or an anchored syndicate, covered in lead investors and syndication, keep pricing tension alive.

In a multi-asset deal the scarce input is buyer conviction, so the decisive work is perimeter design before launch: which companies belong together, which could stand alone, and which would drag the price of the rest. If the ILPA draft's bid summary and longer election window become practice, every final-round bid will also be read by LPs. Where volume goes next is a question for the secondaries market outlook; the structure data already show that a single company wins its price, while a portfolio has to earn it.