Limited partners are abandoning hopes for distribution recoveries and instead flocking to the secondaries market for immediate liquidity, according to William Blair's Jake Stuiver. Speaking at the PEI Group's NEXUS 2026 conference in Florida, Stuiver told Secondaries Investor that LPs have grown frustrated with years of waiting for distributions that never materialized.

This shift marks a significant change in market dynamics, as investors who once held out for better returns are now accepting current pricing. William Blair managing director Stuiver noted that any transactions completed over the past two years have generally delivered favorable outcomes for sellers. The trend suggests LPs are prioritizing certainty over potential upside.

As distributions eventually increase, Stuiver predicts a new wave of opportunistic sellers will enter the market, potentially driving up prices. Meanwhile, current sellers are already redeploying capital into no-fee, no-carry co-investment opportunities, signaling a strategic pivot in how institutional investors are allocating capital in today's market.