Blackstone's secondaries business carried more unpaid performance fees at 30 September than BCP Global, its flagship buyout series, its third-quarter release shows. Its tenth secondaries fund has passed $16 billion toward a target of at least $22 billion. Meanwhile, the buyers of continuation funds called PitchBook's count a false narrative, on the day Lazard said stalled exits feed its secondaries desk. In addition, Keyhaven sold Novation Tech to a €100 million vehicle led by Committed Advisors.

The tape

• DEAL  Goldman Sachs' Vintage funds bought Glenmede's stakes in a Patria European co-investment vehicle on 3 October, Gazette notices show, price not published.
• FUND  Tikehau held a first close for its third credit secondaries vehicle, an evergreen anchored by a Korean institution, its quarterly update said on Thursday.
• DEAL  Cox Capital's offer for Blue Owl Credit Income shares at $7.31, 20% below the 31 August value, opens today, as read on 15 October.
• DATA  LODAS and Nasdaq may auction shares of six more interval funds with about $13 billion of queued redemptions, Wealth Management reported, after Harrison Street's auction.
• REGULATION  CAZ Investments asked the SEC on Wednesday to let three interval funds issue exchange-listed and tokenized share classes, two weeks after Hamilton Lane.
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Strategic Partners has passed BCP Global on carry

Blackstone's secondaries arm now carries more unpaid performance fees than the buyout series that built the firm. Its Secondaries line held $1,196 million of net accrued performance revenues at 30 September, in the release whose fund commitments ran here on Thursday. BCP Global held $1,158 million in the same table. A year earlier BCP Global was far ahead, at $1,843 million against $1,169 million. BCP Global's pool, then, crossed below Secondaries' within a year, a crossover Blackstone's call on Thursday did not mention.

The crossover owes more to BCP Global's sales than to Strategic Partners' gains. BCP Global's accrued carry fell by $606 million in the quarter, from $1,764 million at 30 June, as the firm sold companies and paid out the carry on them. Secondaries, meanwhile, added $48 million over the same three months. Its funds appreciated 4.3% in the quarter, the most of any private equity strategy at the firm. But that appreciation runs three months late, because Strategic Partners reports on a lag from its funds' statements. So the third-quarter print mostly shows the second quarter's marks, and the line includes GP Stakes, which the release does not split out.

Blackstone's secondaries carry pool passed BCP Global's in a year, as the buyout fund paid out

Net accrued performance revenues by fund, $m, 30 September 2025 and 30 September 2026

Source: Blackstone, third-quarter 2026 release, net accrued performance revenues by fund, 22 October 2026.

Strategic Partners X, the new fund, is taking in money faster than the unit spends it. The fund has "over $16 billion raised to date toward a target of at least $22 billion", Blackstone's president Jon Gray told analysts on Thursday, the transcript shows. The release, however, puts the fund's committed capital at $12.35 billion at 30 September, so about $4 billion arrived after the quarter or sits outside that count. At its target the fund would be the second-largest secondaries fund ever raised, behind the $30 billion Ardian closed in January 2025.

Strategic Partners, however, spent half as much as in the spring. It put $1.95 billion to work in the quarter, against $3.26 billion in the second quarter. The first quarter had $3.97 billion and the last quarter of 2025 $4.06 billion, the firm's four releases show. However, the unit was still buying at the quarter-end. On 30 September it took the whole stake of Altius Real Assets Fund in a Basalt Infrastructure Partners fund, a Gazette notice of Wednesday shows. The same unit bought into 11 UK fund partnerships around 30 September.

Strategic Partners spent half as much in the third quarter as in the second

capital deployed by Blackstone's Secondaries business, by quarter, $bn

The carry pool's next test is Strategic Partners IX. The ninth fund finished its investment period in March with $19.7 billion committed. It holds $19.9 billion of unrealized value and has returned $1.3 billion, 6% of its total value. Its multiple is 1.5 times cost and its net return 16%, by the release's table. Meanwhile, Strategic Partners X, which began investing in March, has $7.8 billion still to call. So the carry moves from accrued to paid only when the ninth fund starts selling, and Blackstone reports the fourth quarter in January.

Buyers and Lazard disagree on why CVs grow

The buyers of continuation funds and the bank that sells them give two different reasons for the same market, and both answered PitchBook's count. PitchBook found 95 continuation fund deals in the twelve months to 30 September, worth $47.4 billion. Its 2025 count was 161 deals and $97.6 billion, as read here on 10 October.

Two buyers answered the count on Thursday, through PitchBook's reporter Jessica Hamlin. The first, Amyn Hassanally, runs private equity secondaries at Pantheon. He answered: "I think that's a false narrative." He said the secondary market is "operating and growing on a trajectory that's quite independent from market conditions and the exit environment". The second, Jeff Akers, heads secondary investments at Adams Street. He called GP-led deals a "market-driven opportunity" rather than a response to weak exits.

Lazard gave the other reason the same day, as one of the advisors that sell these vehicles. Its chief executive Peter Orszag told analysts on Thursday that the industry is "waiting for Godot a little bit on that private equity M&A moment". He added that the delay "is helping to drive additional activity in our secondaries business", the transcript shows. His quarter's release lists three continuation fund mandates, for Blue Sea Capital, Exponent Private Equity and M-One Capital. M-One filed its Scooter's Coffee vehicle in September. Meanwhile, Lazard CL launches in early November. It is the business Lazard is building with Campbell Lutyens, and Orszag expects about $500 million of revenue from it.

The two readings fit PitchBook's number differently. The first reading, Hassanally's, says the count fell because of how PitchBook counts. It builds up from announced deals, with estimates for the undisclosed ones, while the advisors survey the buyers. Those surveys put GP-led volume at a record in the first half, between $61 billion and $65 billion in six months, more than PitchBook found in twelve.

Source: PitchBook, 5 October 2026; Evercore, H1 2026 Secondary Market Review, p.3; Lazard, Interim 2026 Secondary Market Report, p.6; Jefferies, H1 2026 Global Secondary Market Review, pp.2 and 7.

The second reading, Orszag's, says continuation funds shrink the day sponsor sales return, and the advisors earn either way. The next count comes from Evercore, which reports its third quarter on Wednesday 28 October. It is the bank's first call since it made Nigel Dawn, who built its secondaries unit, co-president.

Keyhaven kept Novation Tech with Committed Advisors' €100m

Keyhaven has kept a carbon fibre maker it has owned since 2017, by selling it to a €100 million vehicle led by Committed Advisors. Keyhaven announced the deal on Thursday evening, BeBeez reported on Friday. Keyhaven is a London private equity firm founded in 2003 that buys lower mid-market companies in Europe, alone or alongside local sponsors. It has invested or advised on €2.2 billion since then.

Committed Advisors, the buyer, is the Paris secondaries house that took Peugeot Invest's 35 fund stakes in 2025. It led Constellation Capital's €100 million vehicle for its Academy business on 9 October. Its count is now two single-asset vehicles of €100 million in two weeks.

Novation Tech's numbers explain why the sponsor wanted to stay. Novation Tech is based in Montebelluna near Treviso and makes carbon fibre and composite parts, 92% of them for cars. Nike owned it from 1996 to 2004, then the Italian sponsor Aksìa, and Keyhaven bought all of it with management in May 2017. Since then revenue has more than quadrupled and EBITDA has grown more than seven times, BeBeez says. Revenue was €117.6 million in 2025, flat on 2024, and EBITDA about €16 million. Its chief executive Luca Businaro targets €125 million to €128 million of revenue in 2026. He wants €150 million to €180 million by 2030.

The vehicle was most probably raised to pay for that plan, because the money is for industrial investment, technology and acquisitions in businesses next to the company's skills. The company already bought 85% of Citre Color in 2023 and MPC Designworks of Portugal in January 2025. Keyhaven's investors, meanwhile, could sell their stake or reinvest in the new vehicle, and the raise was oversubscribed after a short syndication. Keyhaven was advised by Fairview Capital Group, with Macfarlanes as counsel. However, neither the price nor the roll share has been reported, and the selling fund is not named.

On the radar

• Wednesday 28 October, 8am, New York. Evercore reports its third quarter, the first call since Nigel Dawn became co-president, and the next count of continuation vehicles after PitchBook's.
• Friday 30 October, Luxembourg. The new share classes of Partners Group's Global Value SICAV move to a 2.5% quarterly redemption threshold, half the current one. Shareholders then vote in the week of 9 November on splitting the €6.6 billion gated fund in two.
• Tuesday 3 November, 5pm, New York. Cox Capital's offers for Blackstone Private Credit Fund and HPS Corporate Lending Fund shares, 12.5% and 17.5% below their values, expire. How many shares are tendered says what a queued investor will take.
• Tuesday 17 and Wednesday 18 November, New York. SuperReturn Secondaries North America meets at Convene on Madison Avenue, with Coller, HarbourVest and New York State Common on stage. The Secondary Brief has negotiated 15% off for its readers: book with the discount link, or use the VIP code FKR3675SECBRIEF.
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