Graham Douglas is a Managing Director at Kline Hill Partners

Once used to sell off zombie funds or badly underperforming assets, a growing number of continuation funds are being launched around high-performing trophy assets that aren’t currently fetching their proper valuation.

Energy tech-focused private equity firm GEC has completed a $215m continuation fund for its portfolio company Estis, with Kline Hill Partners the sole lead secondaries buyer among a consortium of institutional investors.

Infrastructure and real assets accounted for around 9% of estimated total volume in the first half, according to Greenhill & Co’s latest volume survey.

The deal led by Kline Hill will enable co-investors to sell their stakes in Estis, a provider of high-pressure artificial-lift services to oil-and-gas companies

Mid-market GP-led transactions are having a moment, but what is driving activity in this space, and is it expected to last?

Generative artificial intelligence is being applied to private markets at breakneck speed. The biggest hurdle to applying these software tools to LP secondaries trades is the market’s lack of standardisation.