Chris Witkowsky

Several deals across the mid-market have closed recently and market professionals see continued vibrancy at this smaller level of secondaries.

The promotions come as Lazard’s capital advisory group continues to expand – it has about 100 professionals in eight offices around the world with an expectation of continued growth.

Presidio saw an opportunity to extend its hold over Elevate as it continues to implement its growth plan that includes further spending and future acquisitions.

LP sales were expected to kick off a resumption of robust secondaries activity after a slowdown late last year, with external factors such as the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank keeping activity muted.

Pent-up demand among sellers facing liquidity pressures and looking to rebalance overexposure issues is expected to bring more processes to market, though later this year.

The preferred equity specialist has grown rapidly since its formation in 2015.

Closing deals in this environment is challenging, with wide bid/ask spreads and syndication issues.

The investment bank's capital solutions team has advised on around $68bn of secondaries, direct and co-investment transactions.

As prices generally come with discounts to net asset value, existing LPs have been slow to sell in tender processes.

Many GPs are interested in finding ways to deliver proceeds to liquidity-hungry investors in older funds as well as boosting fundraising in the challenging environment.