A Pioneer in the Private Equity Secondary Market

Through our secondary investment activities, Adams Street acquires limited partnership interests and direct investments in buyout, venture capital and mezzanine assets. As a pioneer in the private equity secondary market, we executed one of the first secondary transactions in 1986 and raised one of the first dedicated secondary funds in 1988.  We have subsequently closed over 100 secondary investments.

Since the emergence of the secondary market in the 1980s, it has grown from a few players and a few hundred million dollars to more than 50 players and over $6 billion in annual transaction volume. The market has evolved from a curiosity amongst institutional investors in distressed situations to a market that allows limited partners in private equity investments to find liquidity and meet their strategic portfolio objectives. Sellers are not only financial institutions, corporations and family offices, but also pension funds, endowments and foundations.

Adams Street Partners is an ideal partner for providing liquidity solutions to sellers of limited partnership interests for the following reasons:

• Adams Street Partners has a long history in secondary transactions, executing our first secondary deal in 1986
• Adams Street Partners has built a strong brand in the institutional investor community and general partners appreciate us as a desirable substitute limited partner
• Our platform allows us to leverage the expertise of our Direct Investment, Client Services, and Primary Partnership teams in order to price portfolios more effectively and increase the certainty of close
• We have a dedicated team of professionals across the globe that source, execute and monitor the secondary marketplace on a global basis
• Our capital resource base enables us to be indifferent to the fundedness or unfundedness of the limited partnership interests in a transaction
• The cross-disciplinary background of our secondary investment team and flexible fund structure underpins our ability to evolve to secondary market trends
• We represent a viable buyer for limited partners subject to the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") that have an interest in relinquishing their interests

Partnering with Adams Street Partners in a secondary transaction represents an attractive situation both for the selling limited partner and the general partner.