The New York State Common Retirement Fund made the two largest commitments last year to funds managed by TPG and Blue Owl.
LP-led deals saw a record $87bn volume last year as pricing continued to increase, according to a report from Jefferies.
The fund, which manages around $110bn on behalf of nurses and teachers, is heading towards its private markets allocation targets after a period of build-up and growth. In this podcast, Deputy CIO Damien Webb discusses the fund's view of the secondaries market.
There have been cases when continuation funds have been 'misused and overused', according to Teia Merring, senior investment director at USS and chair of ILPA.
The UK pension fund is about to close its second private debt fund, which it aims to scale to £500m, and is looking to consolidate GP partnerships.
Coller Capital's latest barometer has found that most investors see the main purpose of continuation funds as providing an alternative to selling assets at a low valuation.
The New York City retirement systems confirmed that four of the five NYC pension funds are involved in the large LP-led secondaries transaction.
NYCRS, which oversees five pensions including NYCERS, has a secondaries programme in place with long-term targets ranging from 10-20% of its total PE portfolio.
The firm launched what could be its largest-ever secondaries fund in October.
The US pension giant considers secondaries investments an important contributor of distinct advantages not found in traditional commingled funds, according to Anton Orlich, managing investment director for private equity.