The secondary market has entered a
new phase of scale and complexity. As per the data from Jefferies Group, in
2025, global secondary transaction volume reached approximately US$ 240
billion, representing a 48% increase from the previous year and the largest
annual volume on record. LP-led transactions accounted for US$ 125 billion,
while GP-led transactions contributed another US$ 115 billion. Lazard reported
a similarly significant market, estimating total secondary volume at US$ 233
billion in 2025, up 53% from 2024.
For Limited Partners (LPs), this
growth creates more opportunities to manage liquidity, rebalance portfolios and
access private-market exposure. At the same time, it raises a more fundamental
challenge: how can investors develop conviction when the information available
during a secondary transaction does not always provide the complete picture?
Traditional due diligence remains the foundation. Financial statements, fund
reports, portfolio-company data, valuation information, GP materials and
transaction documents provide essential insight into an investment opportunity.
This is where expert networks can
create a new layer of information for LPs. By connecting investors with
relevant industry practitioners, former executives, functional specialists and
other qualified experts, expert networks can provide perspectives that help
investors interpret, validate and challenge the information already available
to them.
What Expert Networks Add to LP Due
Diligence
Expert networks connect investors
with individuals who have relevant experience in a particular market, company,
function or industry. These experts can include former executives, senior
operators, industry specialists and functional professionals with direct
knowledge of the markets being evaluated. The value of these conversations is
not simply obtaining another opinion. The more strategic use is to test the
assumptions underlying an investment thesis.
An LP assessing a portfolio company
may have questions about industry growth, competitive positioning, customer
behavior, pricing, technology adoption or regulatory developments. Speaking
with people who have direct experience in those areas can provide another
perspective against which existing investment materials can be assessed. That
perspective does not replace financial or legal diligence. Instead, it can
provide additional context around the information already available. This
distinction is particularly important in private markets, where investment
decisions often depend on assumptions about future performance rather than
simply historical results.
The Role of Expert Networks in
GP-Led Transactions
The growing importance of expert
intelligence is also relevant to GP-led transactions. For an LP evaluating a
continuation vehicle, the diligence question extends beyond historical
portfolio performance. The investor needs to understand whether the original
investment thesis remains relevant for the next phase of ownership.
This can involve assessing the
company's competitive position, addressable market, growth prospects, customer
dynamics and potential exit environment. Expert networks can provide additional
perspectives around these issues, allowing LPs to investigate how the market
has evolved since the original investment was made.
The goal is not to determine
whether a transaction is attractive based on an individual expert's view.
Instead, expert intelligence can help LPs assess whether the assumptions
supporting the proposed valuation and future growth expectations are consistent
with market realities.
From Expert Conversations to
Actionable Intelligence
Simply conducting expert calls does
not automatically create an information advantage. The quality of the process
matters. The most effective approach begins with identifying the specific
information gap. Rather than approaching an expert with a broad question about
a company or industry, an LP can define the particular assumption it wants to
test.
The next step is identifying the
right type of expert for that question. A former executive may provide a
different perspective from a functional specialist, while a market practitioner
may offer a different view from someone with direct customer experience. The
conversation should then be structured around specific hypotheses. The
resulting insights can be compared against portfolio data, GP materials and
other independent sources.
This process of triangulation is
important. A single expert's perspective should not automatically be treated as
representative of an entire market. Multiple perspectives can help LPs
distinguish between an individual observation and a broader market pattern. The
ultimate output should therefore not simply be a collection of expert-call
transcripts. It should be a clearer understanding of what has been validated,
what has been challenged and what still requires investigation.
Expert Networks as a
Portfolio-Level Intelligence Layer
The value of expert networks can
extend beyond individual portfolio companies. An LP evaluating a large
portfolio may want to understand whether a particular risk is isolated to one
company or reflects a broader market trend. For example, conversations across
multiple industries could reveal common themes around artificial intelligence,
changing procurement behavior, regulatory pressure, labor costs or shifts in
customer demand.
Viewed this way, expert networks
can become a portfolio-level intelligence layer. Instead of using expert
research solely to answer a question about one company, LPs can use insights
across multiple conversations to develop a broader understanding of the risks
and opportunities affecting their private-market exposure. This becomes
increasingly relevant as institutional investors manage increasingly
diversified private-market portfolios.
The Future of LP Due Diligence is
Multi-Source
The emergence of expert networks
does not mean that traditional diligence is becoming less important. Instead,
it points toward a more multi-source model of investment research. Financial
data can explain historical performance. Portfolio analytics can show exposure.
GP materials can provide information about strategy and expectations.
Market research can provide
industry-level context. Alternative data can reveal additional behavioral or
operational signals. Expert networks can add perspectives from people with
direct experience of the markets being evaluated. The opportunity for LPs lies
in connecting these sources.
Conclusion: Creating a New
Information Advantage
The secondary market's rapid
expansion is changing the nature of LP due diligence. With global secondary
transaction volume reaching approximately $240 billion in 2025, investors are
operating in a market that is larger, more diverse and increasingly sophisticated.
At the same time, the growing differentiation in secondary pricing demonstrates
why reported NAV and historical performance cannot provide the complete
picture.
Expert networks offer LPs an
additional way to investigate that picture. Their potential value lies in
connecting financial and portfolio data with real-world market perspectives.
Used appropriately, expert intelligence can help investors validate assumptions,
identify information gaps, understand competitive dynamics and develop more
targeted diligence questions.