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Article by Bertrand Chevalier, Senior Managing Director, and Paul Camincher, Investment Manager, at SEI Luxembourg, as published in Insight/Out magazine #35.
Slower exits, tighter liquidity and changing geopolitics have made investors reassess how and where they operate in recent years. This has led to very strong growth for the secondary market for private assets. Against this backdrop, Luxembourg is emerging as a strategically important market for GPs.
Luxembourg, an increasingly important hub
Luxembourg has historically been a very strong place for incorporating funds. It has built a world-leading private fund servicing industry ecosystem. More than just a purely support function destination, we’ve seen an increasing trend of Luxembourg as a serious investment hub. It combines many advantages: laws facilitating the relocation of dealmakers, strong local financial advisory and next-door access to fund services.
The local fund servicing ecosystem remains strategic. For example, we recently announced the launch of a new Ardian Access SICAV-RAIF, a solution to market funds to larger groups of private investors, beside large institutional investors and the wealthiest families.
Overall, Luxembourg has an ecosystem that can handle complexity, multi-asset deals, multi-jurisdictional funds and bespoke structuring. You do not need to explain what a continuation vehicle is here.
The types of conversations happening here, the language that LPs and GPs are using, and the deal activity demonstrate the maturity of the market. Over time, the conversations happening locally have become more sophisticated and more forward-looking. It is no longer just about lawyers and fund administrators; Luxembourg is now also home to dealmakers, capital raisers and investors.
For instance, when we opened our Luxembourg office in 2011, it was a modest operation. Today, it has grown into a full platform, with more than 20 people across investment, compliance, operations and other functions. It is integrated into how we think about execution, relationship management and governance. The ability to be close to the market, to our partners and to the capital makes a difference. We are also seeing how Luxembourg’s attractive regulatory environment makes it an increasingly important channel for connecting with high-net-worth individuals and family offices.
US policy and European capital
Macroeconomic forces driven by the US are also accelerating the professionalisation of the Luxembourg market. For US investors, European assets offer diversification against an uncertain domestic policy environment defined by protectionist tariffs and shifting fiscal policy.
Even before these policies took effect, investors were being drawn to European shores. According to Pitchbook, Europe accounted for 30% of global Private Equity deal value in 2024, up from 23% a decade ago. Rising US interest rates are also pushing many to rebalance allocations abroad, with European funds seeing record commitments. For European managers, this has resulted in deeper pools of capital. However, this surge in demand brings with it heightened expectations around transparency, governance and speed of execution, representing an opportunity for Luxembourg’s financial hub.
New trends for secondaries
At the same time, while Luxembourg cements its role as a centre of innovation, the secondary market is gaining scale and strategic relevance. For years, Secondaries were treated as a useful but niche part of the industry – a liquidity valve for sellers and a source of discounted assets for opportunistic buyers. That narrative no longer holds.
Today, Secondaries are becoming a mainstream tool for active portfolio management. Institutions are using them not just to solve problems, but also to manage risk, rebalance exposures, allocate more strategically or accelerate liquidity. The investment community is also increasingly aware that the secondary market is a useful tool for rebalancing portfolios and hedging against potential geopolitical headwinds. This is not confined to institutional investors – high-net-worth individuals are also increasingly curious about secondary investment thanks to the democratisation of fund structures.
The story is borne out by the numbers. In 2024, the market saw a record $171 billion in global secondary volume with activity roughly split between LP-led and GP-led transactions, according to data from Evercore. By the end of H1 2025, that momentum had kept pace. Deal volume was up 42% compared to the same period last year. It is not just volume that is changing; it is the nature of the deals. Sellers are coming to market with more structure, clearer objectives and a better understanding of how to run a process. GPs are using continuation vehicles more deliberately and with more alignment. This is now a professionalised market.
Infrastructure secondaries are one of the fastest-growing market segments. The demand drivers are clear: predictable cash flows, inflation linkage and low correlation to public markets. However, demand alone is not the whole story. There is a growing supply of interesting opportunities, often involving mature assets that investors not only want to hold but also repackage. Last year, infrastructure secondaries accounted for $14-20 billion in closed deals, but observed deal flow was estimated to be more than double that. There is a gap between what is available and what the market can absorb.
Shifting market behaviours
Looking ahead, there is a trend towards more repeat sellers, with institutions using the secondary market as a regular tool.
More than half of the transactions we closed in the past two years have been made with sellers with whom we transacted in the past. Dealmakers in the market need to be able to execute rapidly, with little execution risk, and draw on strong knowledge of the market to price assets swiftly.
These are not distressed or one-off situations; they are often structured, thoughtful portfolio management moves. On the GP side, we are seeing more creativity, especially in infrastructure, where asset duration and fund lifecycles do not always line up neatly. Continuation vehicles, syndication and strip sales are all part of the current toolkit.
The real challenge and opportunity is the ability to identify quality. Not everything in the secondary market is worth owning, and the best deals are often the hardest to source, requiring time, information and conviction. Volume is not the same as value. Having the ability to say no and the patience to wait is just as important as having capital ready to deploy. That is particularly true in infrastructure, where headline characteristics can mask uneven fundamentals. You have to go bottom-up, deal by deal.
We are optimistic about what lies ahead. While liquidity remains tight, exit markets remain slow, and the need for portfolio reshaping has not gone away.
We expect secondary volumes to remain high. This is especially true in Europe, where many institutions are managing legacy portfolios more actively. Infrastructure will continue to grow, particularly as more capital looks for predictable, real asset exposure that is still reasonably priced.
Luxembourg can play a part in the growth of Secondaries. It has private investors increasingly interested by Secondaries, strong private banks, a world-leading ecosystem of service providers, an increasing number of investment professionals and an active deal pipeline.
There is a lot of talk about how private capital is entering a new phase: slower, more selective and more mature. That may be true, but it is also a phase that rewards clarity, patience and a strong local footing. Secondaries are now a core part of how capital moves, and Luxembourg, more than ever, can help make that happen.
