Why Mid-Market Banks Are Quitting the Secondaries Advisory Game

DC Advisory shuttered its European secondaries team, signaling a structural problem. Secondaries advisory—guiding deals where investors resell fund stakes—concentrates business among three giants (Evercore, Lazard, Jefferies) and specialists with deep buyer networks. Mid-market rivals lack either captive primary sponsors or proprietary fund relationships, making their advisory units unviable when deal flow evaporates.