Davis Polk partner and Investment Management practice head Leor Landa and counsel Michael Brasher were featured in Private Equity International  providing an overview of the secondaries market in the first half of 2026, including trends and the outlook for the rest of the year.

When asked about the secondaries landscape so far this year, Leor said, “The good news is that market volumes are high, pricing is strong and activity remains quite solid. Demand still outpaces available capital, so overall there is a robust market. The bad news is that this good news is not uniform. The slowdown in private credit affected credit secondaries at the start of the year, and that may yet take another quarter or two to rebound before it resumes the rocket-ship growth seen previously.”

Michael added that real estate secondaries has been an upside, “We expect that to continue as bid-ask spreads tighten and more institutions enter the space.”

Discussing what increasing specialization means for the market, particularly as more new entrants come in on the buy side, Michael explained, “An ongoing theme and opportunity for market expansion comes from the consistent excess of supply over demand. The secondaries market is undercapitalized, so as new investors enter the market and develop their expertise, talent and underwriting capabilities, that imbalance will be gradually addressed.”

“These new specialist entrants are a good demonstration of the maturation of the market. As the private equity market matured, we saw more sector specialists emerge. We now see the same thing happening in secondaries as specialists target different areas of the market,” Leor added.

Describing themes that are expected to shape secondaries transactions moving forward, Michael noted, “The secondaries market, and particularly the GP-led market, will continue to be a great source of opportunities for all parties. We are very bullish about the future. Over the medium to long term, we anticipate activity levels increasing by multiples of where they are today.”

Speaking about how AI is impacting transaction dynamics, Leor said, “AI is going to be a wonderful tool for secondaries, helping firms analyze deals quickly, improving underwriting capabilities and speeding up what can be a very labor-intensive execution process.”

“Davis Polk sees no let-up in secondaries appetite,” Private Equity International (September 1, 2026)

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