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Mid-market secondaries advisory collapses as buyers go direct; integrated restructuring platforms take margin and mandate share.
300 basis points
in most vintage years
48%
decline in intermediated secondaries volume across European mid-market funds…
62%
of sub-
$500mn
transactions directly from GPs or limited partners
DC Advisory's European private equity secondaries group disbanded over the past six weeks, the latest mid-market advisory desk to retreat as institutional buyers consolidate direct relationships and bid-ask spreads remain above 300 basis points in most vintage years. The firm employed four secondaries professionals in London and Frankfurt as recently as December.
The team's dissolution tracks a 48% decline in intermediated secondaries volume across European mid-market funds since Q2 2023, per Greenhill data. Buyers including Lexington Partners, Coller Capital, and HarbourVest now source 62% of sub-$500mn transactions directly from GPs or limited partners, bypassing advisory firms that once commanded 150-200 basis points on transaction value. DC Advisory, a Daiwa Securities subsidiary since 2017, restructured the desk without replacement hires. The four departed bankers are not joining a single competitor — two are understood to be moving to direct secondaries platforms, one to a family office in Zurich, and one exiting financial services.
The market shift punishes pure intermediaries while rewarding integrated platforms. Evercore and Lazard, which bundle secondaries advisory with GP-led restructuring and continuation-fund work, reported secondaries mandate growth of 19% and 14% year-over-year in their latest earnings. Standalone desks like DC Advisory's face margin compression: the average fee on a $150mn LP-led secondary transaction fell from 175 basis points in 2021 to 95 basis points in 2024, per PJT Partners' secondaries benchmarking survey. When buyers can reach sellers in three emails, advisory economics collapse.
DC Advisory's broader M&A and debt advisory units remain active, closing 11 transactions in Q4 2024 worth a combined €1.8bn. The firm advised on the sale of German industrial supplier KTR Systems to Altra Industrial Motion in November and represented the lenders in the restructuring of UK care-home operator HC-One in October. No other practice groups are under review, according to a person familiar with internal planning.
Allocators tracking secondaries liquidity should watch three catalysts through mid-2025. First, whether Blackstone and Apollo expand their $25bn and $18bn direct secondaries platforms to acquire sub-$200mn portfolios, currently the domain of smaller funds. Second, if bid-ask spreads tighten below 250 basis points for 2018-2020 vintages as distributions accelerate in Q2 earnings season. Third, the pace of GP-led continuation vehicles — 87 launched in H2 2024 versus 134 in H2 2023 — which determines whether restructuring-heavy advisory shops maintain pricing power.
Daiwa Securities paid $385mn for DC Advisory in 2017, valuing the firm at 12.4x trailing EBITDA. The parent has not written down the investment, though secondaries advisory contributed an estimated 8-11% of DC Advisory's €47mn in FY2023 revenue.
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