Private Markets Square #8 — Liquidity Becomes a Strategy. And June 30, a Deadline.
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Published June 30, 2026 · Private Markets Square Newsletter · 7 min read
Editorial: Private Markets Are No Longer an Option. They Become a Building Block of Allocation
For a long time, including private markets in a wealth allocation was a matter of conviction. From June 30, 2026, for part of the market, that choice becomes a regulatory obligation.
The French Green Industry Law now imposes a minimum floor of private assets within the managed-mandate option of life-insurance and retirement-savings (PER) contracts: at least 4% for a balanced profile and 8% for a dynamic profile, with the cautious profile remaining outside the obligation. For PER contracts, the minimum share must be reached no later than June 30, 2026.
This shift changes the very nature of the conversation between an adviser and their client. Private markets are no longer justified by performance alone: they now sit within the default framework of French long-term savings.
But an allocation obligation says nothing about the quality of what is allocated. Democratising access without strengthening education and selection means exposing savers to products whose quality remains highly uneven. Our conviction at AirFund has not changed: the sustainable democratisation of private markets rests on three inseparable pillars — access, education and selection.
Market Pulse: The Secondary Market — Three Figures That Change the Game
If one segment captures the transformation of private equity in 2026, it is the secondary market. Long seen as a fallback solution, it now stands as a strategy in its own right.
1. A market that has changed scale
According to the Lazard survey, the secondary market reached an estimated transaction volume of $233 billion in 2025, up 53% year-on-year — after an already record 2024. For reference, this market was worth only $26 billion in 2013.
2. The driver is no longer the discount, it is liquidity
The perception of the secondary market as a “distressed market” belongs to the past. Buyout portfolios traded on average at 94% of their net asset value in 2025: the market no longer buys at a knock-down price, it pays for quality.
3. GP-led deals cross a historic threshold
This is the real structural novelty. GP-led transactions now represent 46% of global volumes, near parity with LP-led deals, and crossed the $100 billion mark for the first time in 2025. Projections suggest continuation vehicles could account for 30% to 40% of all private equity exits within two years.
Our Conviction: Liquidity Is No Longer the Price to Pay — It Becomes a Management Tool
For decades, private equity rested on a simple equation: potentially high performance in exchange for low liquidity. Locking up capital was a foundation of the model, not a flaw.
What is changing today is that liquidity is no longer endured — it is steered. On the manager side, favouring a continuation fund over a sale to a competitor makes sense when an asset still holds strong potential and the relationship with management is working well.
This sophistication does, however, have a flip side that the adviser must understand. In a GP-led deal, the manager is simultaneously on both sides of the transaction: seller on behalf of the original fund’s LPs, and buyer through the new vehicle. This structural conflict of interest is not disqualifying — it is supervised — but it calls for heightened vigilance on governance and fees.
In a market where liquidity becomes a strategy, understanding how a manager handles exits matters as much as their ability to select entries.
Expert View: Evergreen or Closed-End — Choosing the Right Door
The rise of evergreen funds directly accompanies the democratisation imposed by regulation. But the two structures do not meet the same needs.
The closed-end (vintage) fund has a defined lifespan. Capital is locked until liquidation and fully captures the illiquidity premium, with staggered capital calls and a J-curve effect in the early years.
The evergreen fund is permanent and continuously accessible: no J-curve effect, natural diversification across vintages, a more accessible entry ticket. The flip side: a liquidity pocket of 10% to 20% that weighs on performance, costing around 1 to 2 points of annual return.
The shared point of vigilance: liquidity is never guaranteed. Evergreen redemption windows are periodic, capped, and can be suspended in the event of redemption pressure. The early-2026 crisis of US private-debt vehicles is a direct illustration.
Six dimensions still structure the analysis of a fund: the team, the strategy, the track record, the risks, the fees and the timeline. To this grid a seventh question now adds itself: what is the real liquidity mechanism, and what happens when it comes under stress?
Fund Insights: Otentiq Private Infrastructure III
This month’s fund is a textbook case of the trend described above: Access Capital Partners (€14.4bn under management) is opening its institutional expertise to wealth-management clients and distributing its first infrastructure vehicle through AirFund. A few points that should catch your attention:
Zero carried interest. The sponsor charges no performance fee — a rare fee structure in this segment, directly favourable to the client.
A “parallel” fund to the institutional programme. Private clients co-invest in the same deals as Access’s institutional investors — not a watered-down retail range.
Substance, not promises. Co-investment across 15 to 20 essential European infrastructure assets: digital, energy, transport, environment.
Assets that distribute. Operational infrastructure with recurring cash flows, contracts often inflation-linked, decorrelated from equity-market cycles — the defensive profile many clients are looking for.
An Early Bird window. Reduced management fees for subscriptions before January 30, 2026. Closing expected December 2026, entry ticket from €100,000.
Fund Insights: MCF Access Feeder S.L.P. — Access to Healthcare Private Equity
Launched in April 2024, the MCF Access Feeder S.L.P. fund allows investment alongside institutional clients in the master fund MED Access S.L.P., managed by ARCHIMED, a recognised specialist in healthcare-sector investment.
The teams of Mata Capital and ARCHIMED presented the latest news on the master fund: convictions on the healthcare sector, portfolio companies and development outlook. Two resources are available to go further:
News webinar replay — the full update from the management teams.
Updated commercial presentation — the fund’s characteristics and positioning.
We remain entirely at your disposal to present this fund in more detail, along with its latest performance, on request.
Inside AirFund: Today the Deadline Takes Effect
Here we are: the June 30 regulatory deadline takes effect today. Wealth professionals now face a dual requirement: integrating private markets into more allocations, and continuing to explain clearly why one fund rather than another.
This is the role of the AirFund platform: making the analysis of private-market funds more readable and more accessible. The fund 2-pagers summarise the essentials in a few pages — strategy, reasons to invest, target allocation, characteristics, fees and risks. All complemented by Ask AirFund, our built-in assistant, to navigate the documentation and prepare a client discussion.
Events & Community: Thank You for Meeting Us at Occur Paris
On June 25 and 26, AirFund attended the Occur Paris event at the Pré Catelan, for two days of exchanges with wealth professionals on the major trends in private markets and the integration of private assets into client allocations.
Thank you to everyone who came to talk with us at our stand and during the speaking sessions. These encounters directly feed our conviction: in this new market phase, the adviser’s role — to understand, select and explain — has never been so central.
Glossary
GP-led / LP-led: a secondary deal initiated respectively by the manager or by the investor.
Continuation fund: a vehicle created by a GP to extend the holding of assets beyond the original fund’s term.
Evergreen: a permanent fund with periodic redemption windows.
NAV: net asset value.
J-curve: the negative return profile in the early years of a closed-end fund.
Managed mandate (gestion pilotée): delegated management of a life-insurance or PER contract.
Notes & Disclaimer
Marketing communication. Information reserved for wealth-management professionals. AirFund / ONEWEALTHPLACE is authorised as a Financial Investment Adviser (CIF), registered with ORIAS under no. 24004281, member of ANACOFI, an association approved by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF).
Fund details are accessible only to advisers registered with ORIAS and holding CIF authorisation. Please refer to the AIF prospectus / information document and the key information document (PRIIPs KID) before any final investment decision. The performance objectives cited are communicated by the managers; they are indicative, non-contractual and not guaranteed. Past performance does not predict future performance.
Investments in private equity and private assets carry significant risks: risk of capital loss (total or partial), illiquidity (capital locked for 8 to 12 years), no performance guarantee, periodic rather than real-time valuation, exposure to economic cycles and currency risk. The historically observed outperformance relative to listed markets is the counterpart of this illiquidity and these risks. This communication constitutes neither investment advice, nor a solicitation, nor an offer.
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