Coller Capital, Ares Management Raise Billions for Secondaries Funds

The $17 billion raised for Coller International Partners IX is already 70% deployed, while Ares raised $7.1 billion for its inaugural credit strategy.

Amidst strong demand for private markets secondaries investments, Coller Capital Inc. and Ares Management Corp. each announced the closing of multi-billion-dollar secondaries funds on Tuesday.

Coller announced the closing of Coller International Partners IX—the firm’s largest private equity secondaries fund to date. Coller raised $17 billion in commitments from more than 250 limited partners, including pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign funds, asset managers and other financial institutions. The fund will invest in LP-led and general partner-led secondary transactions around the world, according to the announcement.

Ares Management announced the close of its own $7.1 billion credit secondaries strategy, including the final closing of its inaugural Ares Credit Secondaries Fund. Ares raised $4 billion in LP commitments for the fund, double its $2 billion target, which the firm identified as its largest institutional fundraiser for an inaugural fund. The $7.1 billion total for the strategy includes affiliated vehicles and anticipated leverage.

Ares’ credit strategy aims to “construct a highly diversified portfolio of predominantly senior secured, private equity-backed and floating-rate private credit portfolios by tactically allocating across LP-led and continuation vehicle transactions in collaboration with leading asset managers,” according to the announcement.

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Coller manages $50 billion in assets, and its private equity secondaries platform invests in commingled funds, co-investment vehicles, separately managed accounts and equity perpetual funds. Ares manages $38 billion across its secondaries platform and $595 billion across the firm.

CBRE Investment Management also announced on Tuesday the closing of a $1.62 billion secondaries fund targeting real estate investments.

Demand for Secondaries Grows

The secondaries market for private equity and other alternative investment fund stakes has grown year-over-year, as LPs sell into the market to offload older vintages; hunt for deals; and manage their liquidity. The trend toward secondaries has grown as private fund exits have slowed in recent years.

According to data from law firm Ropes & Gray, secondaries market volume grew to $165 billion through the third quarter of 2025, and it is expected that full-year 2025 transaction volume reached $210 billion. By comparison, 2024 saw $160 billion in secondaries volume, and 2023 had $114 billion, according to Ropes & Gray.

In the firm’s 2026 market outlook, Coller Capital forecast another blockbuster year for secondaries. The firm anticipates that in the long term, secondaries could grow to $500 billion in deal volume by 2030.

As a result of the growing demand from LPs for secondaries investments, many GPs are closing record-setting secondaries funds. In January 2025, alternative investor Ardian raised $30 billion for its ninth-generation secondaries fund, ASF IX. Blackstone, in September 2025, closed its largest dedicated infrastructure secondaries fund, Strategic Partners Infrastructure IV, with $5.5 billion in commitments.

“[2025] was another record year for the secondary market as market volatility and a heightened demand for liquidity attracted more investors to the many virtues of secondaries,” said Jeremy Coller, CIO and managing partner of Coller Capital, in a statement. “Secondaries are no longer seen as a tactical portfolio rebalancing tool but a core component of diversified portfolios.”