Overview

The private equity exit market froze. Roughly $3.8 trillion now sits trapped in aging funds across about 32,000 portfolio companies, and cash back to limited partners fell below 15% of net asset value for four years running.

Continuation funds became the release valve. They moved $100 billion in 2025, the largest channel in the secondary market after limited partner-led sales, and eight times the 2018 figure. Single-asset deals crossed half of volume for the first time, with Vista's $5.6 billion Cloud Software Group setting the ceiling.

Three structures move continuation capital:

• Single-asset rollovers, one trophy company per vehicle, led by Vista and CapVest

• Multi-asset baskets bundling two to five companies, from Leonard Green and Warburg Pincus

• CV-squared, assets rolled a second time, pioneered by PAI Partners and Accel-KKR

The report

This report maps three dozen continuation funds from single-asset trophy holds that set the ceiling to the twice-rolled CV-squared deals where limited partner pushback concentrates.

Table of contents

• Overview · page 3

• By the numbers · page 4

• Why now · page 5

• How it works · page 6

• Three structures · page 7

• Market map · Single-asset · page 8

• Market map · Multi-asset · page 9

• Market map · CV-squared · page 10

• Buyer landscape · page 11

• Pricing and performance · page 12

• Limited partner verdict · page 13

• Stress test · page 14

• Looking forward · page 15