Alternative Private Equity Structures: Continuation Funds, GP-Led Secondaries, and Permanent Capital Vehicles

This CLE course will analyze the current state of the investment market that has given rise to alternative private equity structures focused on liquidity, such as continuation funds, GP-led secondaries, and permanent capital vehicles (PCVs). The panel will review the mechanics and the pros and cons of these alternative structures.

As the private equity industry matures, general partners seek longer-dated funding sources for their investments and themselves for several reasons. They want to reduce fundraising costs, provide for more certainty of capital, and ensure more time to enhance the value of their portfolio companies and better time exits with the market cycle.

Continuation funds—once a niche liquidity solution for private capital sponsors—are now a mainstream portfolio management and exit tool. The 2025 calendar year closed with $226 billion in transaction volume, up 41% from 2024. Continuation funds (also referred to as continuation vehicles or CVs) permit general partners to hold portfolio companies past the term of a fund and possibly invest new capital while returning capital to investors.

PCVs are expanding rapidly. The largest alternative asset managers— collectively referred to as the Big 5—oversee approximately $1.5 trillion in permanent or perpetual capital. PCVs come in multiple varieties and permit general partners to raise and deploy capital over a potentially unlimited time horizon, freeing them up from the typical 10-year fund lifecycle.

GP-led secondaries are among the fastest-growing segments of the market, changing how sponsors manage assets and how limited partners (LPs) access liquidity. Often executed through a continuation vehicle, a GP-led secondary allows a general partner to transfer one or more portfolio companies into a new vehicle that other LPs can either sell or reinvest while bringing in new secondary capital.

Given the accelerating interest and permanence of alternative private equity structures, it is imperative for counsel to understand how these structures work, what drives interest and deal friction, and how investors and sponsors should evaluate alternative equity structures moving forward.

Listen as our authoritative panel of practitioners discusses the structure, benefits, and pitfalls of these alternative fund structures. The panel will compare and contrast these alternative structures and discuss how they fit the current fundraising landscape.