NewsMV
Backers of buyout funds struck $9bn in so-called alternative transactions in 2025, up sharply from $6bn the year before, as investors in private equity funds turned to debt-like structures to generate returns in a market where conventional exits have become harder to close.
The shift marks a meaningful change in how fund investors are managing exposure — and in what they are willing to accept in place of the cash distributions they were once promised.
A Liquidity Workaround, Not a Recovery Alternative transactions — structured as debt-like deals rather than straight equity sales — have become the instrument of necessity for investors who back buyout funds and need liquidity without waiting for portfolio companies to be sold or listed.
The $3bn year-on-year increase signals that this is no longer a fringe tactic.
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