Completed transactions on the alternative investment secondary markets grew to $46 billion in the first half of 2019, up 25.4% from transaction volume in the first half of 2018, according to the latest Setter Capital Volume Report.
Private equity transaction volume grew 33.5% to $42.1 billion, infrastructure was up 8.6% to $1.5 billion and agriculture and timber funds were up 33% to $160 million in the first half of the year compared with the same period in 2018. Meanwhile, real estate secondary transactions fell by 39.2% to $1.9 billion and hedge funds dropped by 35.1% to $340 million in the six months ended June 30.
A total of 895 transactions were completed in the first half of 2019, up 20% from the year-earlier period. The average transaction size was about $51.4 million, a 4.5% increase. Setter's report said the growth in average deal size was driven largely by the number of large deals of $500 million or more in the market during the six months ended June 30.
In the second half of 2019, most buyers expect pension funds to be the biggest sellers, accounting for 35% of transaction volume.
In the first half of 2019, leveraged buyout, venture capital, hedge funds, fund-of-fund and secondary fund managers sold the most on the alternative investment secondary market, accounting for 35.5% of all sellers, the report showed.
Banks were the next most active sellers with 19.5% of the volume in the first half of 2019, followed by pension plans accounting for 18.2%, insurance companies with 10.3%, and endowments and charities with 5.2% of volume.
The data are derived from a survey of 120 alternative investment secondary market buyers.
