Major funds tap secondary sales to unlock billions without exiting the asset class
Canadian pension giants have turned Ardian into a go‑to liquidity partner, unloading roughly US$20bn of private equity fund stakes to the French manager since 2017.
According to Bloomberg News cited by the Financial Post, Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec was the first Canadian pension to commit to Paris-based Ardian’s funds, with other members of the so‑called Maple Eight later backing several of its strategies.
The article said the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised about US$2bn in 2023 by selling 20 fund stakes to Ardian, while British Columbia Investment Management Corp. sold around US$1bn of private equity fund stakes in 2024.
Ardian manages about US$200bn and built its reputation on secondaries, alongside direct investments in European infrastructure, buyouts and real estate, with private credit accounting for less than 10 percent of assets.
The firm is now preparing to raise its next secondaries fund after collecting a record US$30bn last year to buy stakes in portfolios managed by other private asset firms.
In an interview with Bloomberg News, Vladimir Colas, Ardian’s co‑head of secondaries and primaries, said the firm completed its first deal with Canadian pensions in 2017 and has since closed nine transactions with five of them, purchasing a total of US$20bn of fund stakes.
He said this activity “has become a really strong business” for Ardian and led it to open a Canadian office three years ago.
Colas told Bloomberg News that a decade ago many limited partners viewed secondaries as “niche” and reserved for situations involving liquidity pressure or regulatory constraints, with most investors otherwise planning to hold private equity to term.
He said that “every limited partner is thinking about the secondary market” as allocations to private assets grow and geopolitics move quickly, changing where it is “interesting to invest” every few months.
He added that slow distributions have led some LPs to “create their own liquidity… to keep investing in private equity.”
Colas linked part of the Canadian selling to strategy changes.
He said several Canadian pension funds shifted away from third-party funds toward direct deals, with some selling “several billions of my funds right away” instead of waiting for distributions.
He added that many are now “rebalancing a little bit between funds and directs” rather than being heavily concentrated in one.
On execution, Colas told Bloomberg News that Ardian has “built a platform where we are the largest buyer,” raising a US$30bn fund for secondaries and investing in 1,600 private equity funds, which gives it information that helps speed pricing and general partner approvals.
He said a US$2bn to US$3bn transaction “can be effected in a matter of a few weeks, which is almost as liquid as public markets.”
Colas told Bloomberg News that Ardian targets portfolios of funds about five years old, when, in his view, “the blind pool risk… is no longer there” and exits are closer, improving the risk‑return profile.
He said sellers “don’t have to be an LP in our fund,” as Ardian is building “attractive exposure” through secondary deals rather than relying only on traditional primary private equity investments.
Colas told Bloomberg News that secondaries appeal because they offer “fast cash rotation” and more “risk adjusted” returns, as buyers of older portfolios see value sooner but with less upside than early‑stage investors.
He estimated today’s secondary market at about US$230bn, or 2 percent of private markets, and said it “should be at least 5 percent or 10 percent,” though getting there could “take a few years.”
