The marketplace platform for private fund secondaries

Swaps is a digital marketplace for secondary private fund interests. Our aim is to democratise access to alternative investments by bringing more transparency to the secondaries market and increase liquidity by democratising access to both institutional and private investors.

Private equity secondaries refer to transactions in which an investor is buying an existing interest or asset from primary private equity fund investors, known as limited partners (LPs). The secondary market allows LPs to make an early exit to lock in gains, liquidate assets or rebalance their portfolio.

Buyers of secondaries, may benefit from shorter duration and faster return of capital, potentially discounted access and enhanced transparency into the underlying portfolio or assets. Funds on the secondary market usually consist of more mature assets and allows investors to avoid the "blind pool" risk of committing capital to a portfolio yet to be constructed.

Funds on the platform includes private equity, venture capital, real estate, infrastructure and private credit.

The platform is built for limited partners, general partners, secondaries investors, wealth managers and private capital advisors. For members to join the network, they must qualify as an Accredited Investor or work for a qualified financial institution.

Buyers and sellers on the secondary market use NAV as a reference for pricing the stake involved in their transactions. Typically, the price is quoted at a discount (or premium) to NAV and are negotiated on a deal-by-deal basis. Some of the considerations includes:

- Performance of underlying assets
- Fund vintage and remaining life
- Portfolio diversification
- Fund terms
- Track record of the GP

The buyer assumes the obligation to meet the remaining capital commitments in full. Depending on the type and stage of the fund, it may be possible to obtain a NAV facility from one of our lending partners to fund uncalled commitments that is secured against any future distributions.

The platform matches bids that emerge through the auction to provide sellers the best price available. Higher bids from buyers are filled first. In case of any remaining supply (i.e. stakes offered by sellers for auction), the platform will fill orders starting with the next highest price until all supply is sold — while respecting the seller’s reserve price.

Stakes offered for sale in the auction are preferably sold in their entirety, but can also be only partially sold. The stake or partial stake can be sold to a single buyer or divided and sold to multiple buyers, so long as the asking price is met. We reserve the right, at its sole discretion and with a view to achieve the most favourable outcome for its existing investors and funds, to assign buyers and sellers provided the general auction rules are maintained.