Big private equity investors — including a sovereign wealth fund and one of the largest US public pension plans — are warning that some of their peers may be rubber-stamping deals where buyout firms sell companies to themselves through "continuation vehicles". A continuation vehicle is a fund the private equity manager creates to buy an asset out of one of its own older funds, letting the manager hold on to the asset rather than sell to an outside buyer.
The concern is that the small "limited partner advisory committee" that votes on these sales is increasingly populated by institutions that also run secondaries businesses backing continuation vehicles — meaning the same investor sits on both sides of the trade. One investor described recent committee members as "quasi-insiders". Investors flagged firms that run both lines, including Hamilton Lane, HarbourVest and Partners Group, none of which are accused of wrongdoing.
The activity has exploded: continuation vehicles accounted for roughly **a fifth** of all private equity exits last year, with more than **$100bn** in sales globally, up from about **$70bn** in 2023 and just $7bn or less in 2015, according to Jefferies. The Institutional Limited Partners Association has issued new guidance asking buyout firms to disclose any side incentives — including future fund commitments — built into continuation-vehicle bids. Source: Financial Times, 27 April 2026, Alexandra Heal.