Why the Best GP-Led Deals Go to Smaller Syndicates

The GP-led secondary market is expanding — but deal flow is outpacing available capital, and the best transactions are increasingly going to smaller, trusted syndicates rather than the widest possible investor base. Carlo Pirzio-Biroli of CVC unpacks why execution risk has become the central concern for high-quality GPs, and what secondary buyers are actually looking for when they evaluate a continuation vehicle: market-standard terms, genuine alignment, and above all, the quality of the management team behind the asset.In conversation with Christian Good of Macfarlanes, the discussion covers the entry of buyout shops into the GP-led space, why historic tensions between buyout houses and secondary platforms have largely dissolved, and how the most durable relationships are built on two-way communication long before a transaction is on the table.