• Firm ahead of deployment schedule amid robust pipeline
• Around USD 100bn of deal opportunities reviewed in past year
• Targets 70% deployment in LP-led deals, 30% in GP-leds

Hollyport Capital leaned into a record wave of demand for secondaries to close its largest-ever flagship fund on USD 4.5bn in total commitments.

The London-headquartered firm wrapped up the over-subscribed fundraising for Hollyport Secondary Opportunities IX less than a year after it held a first close. It raised USD 4.3bn, exceeding its initial USD 3bn target, with another USD 250m raised through separately managed accounts.

“There’s been a lot of supply in the secondary market, and therefore a lot of opportunity for secondary managers to invest,” Mike Catts, a partner at Hollyport, told Mergermarket.

The fundraising was underpinned by a 150% re-up rate, which Catts points to as evidence of the durability of Hollyport’s investment strategy. “It speaks to the conviction our investors have in our strategy, which has been consistent for the last 19 years,” he said.

Hollyport also attracted around USD 1bn from new investors globally. The secondaries investor tapped specialist placement agents to reach pools of capital in Asia and Latin America, adding to a strong presence in the US, Europe, and the Middle East.

Overall, the fundraising effort drew participation from a diverse LP base, including large pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations, financial institutions, and high-net-worth investors.

Hollyport, which has offices in London and New York, previously closed its eighth secondaries fund, plus an overage vehicle, on more than USD 2.2bn in 2022. It is currently also raising a vehicle focused on GP-led secondaries, according to a regulatory filing.

With global secondaries volume expected to exceed USD 200bn this year for the first time, Hollyport is ahead of its deployment schedule for Fund IX. “We’ll deploy a record amount of capital this year and be ahead of pace for our current fund by year-end, just given all the opportunities we’ve seen,” said Catts.

In the past year alone, Hollyport’s team has reviewed over USD 100bn in potential investment opportunities. As of 30 September 2025, Fund IX had invested approximately USD 1.1bn across 12 secondary transactions, according to a press release. By year-end, the fund is expected to be over one-third invested, according to Catts.

“We’re looking to deploy roughly a third per year, and we’re likely to be ahead of that given our current pipeline and the deals we’ve closed year-to-date,” he explained.

Fund IX will not deviate from Hollyport’s established secondaries strategy of investing in legacy private equity assets through both LP-led and GP-led transactions. Hollyport is aiming to invest up to 70% of the capital from the fund into LP-led deals, and a maximum of 30% into GP-led secondaries.

So far, deployment has skewed toward LP-led opportunities, with Hollyport capitalizing on a temporary lull in activity from other buyers of the tail-end portfolios it specializes in. In particular, evergreen 40 Act funds, among the most active – and aggressive – buyers in the legacy space, dialed back their acquisition activity in 1H25, creating opportunity for others to step into the void.

“Demand in our space has been down a bit, with some of the 40 Act funds having slightly less desire to acquire tail-end interests,” Catts explained. “Some of the larger buyers in the market deployed a lot of capital earlier in the year, so we’ve been able to acquire tail-end books with a bit less competition than usual.”

Still, Catts expects the weighting between GP-led and LP-led deals to adjust in 2026, as the firm eyes increasing opportunities to invest in GP-led transactions.

“We’re very interested and active in that segment, but we’ve just seen so much high-quality deal flow on the LP side,” he said.

On the GP-led side, Hollyport has concentrated on single-asset continuation vehicles (CVs). Recent investments include co-anchoring a CV of approximately USD 250m for Silver Oak Services Partners-backed Smile Partners, alongside BlackRock. It also led a USD 410m CV for Brentwood Associates-backed Watermill Express, a provider of drinking water and ice through self-service stations, in July.

More broadly, Catts sees diminishing opportunity for multi-asset CVs as the M&A market picks up after a multi-year slowdown. “The rationale for executing multi-asset deals is a little less pronounced than it was in the past,” he said.