This descriptive paper analyzes the performance of the private equity secondaries market during the financial crisis 2008-2009, in order to understand the effective liquidity of private equity investments during this episode of market stress. We document that the secondaries market followed the...

Limited partners (LPs) of private equity funds commit to invest with extreme levels of illiquidity and significant uncertainty regarding the timing of capital flows. Secondary markets have emerged which alleviate some of the associated cost. This paper develops a subjective valuation model...