FT Columnist Miles Kruppa: Secondary Funds Create Illusion of Paper Gains in 'Open-Closed' Structure
The latest analysis from the Financial Times points out that secondary funds in the private equity market create an illusion of "paper gains" by purchasing LP exit shares at a discount and then immediately revaluing them at net asset value (NAV). Secondary fund operations typically occur in the later stages of private equity transactions, allowing fund managers to immediately record discounted assets as increased value according to accounting standards, thus presenting exceptional unrealized gains in financial reports. This structure allows "evergreen" or semi-liquid funds to permit investors to enter and exit at NAV, creating a facade of consistently high returns.
The report emphasizes that this model is entirely different from traditional closed-end funds: in closed-end funds, book valuations are merely internal indicators, while in open structures, they directly affect investor entry and exit prices and capital flows. As a result, early years of secondary funds almost always show abnormally high returns, which are not a reflection of asset performance but rather a byproduct of valuation mechanism biases.
Source: Public Information
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二级基金的“NAV魔术”反映了资本市场估值政治的深层逻辑。折价购买与即时重估形成一种人为收益加速机制，本质是将时间换取估值修饰。基金经理在未实现利润阶段获取信用红利，投资者则在流动性错觉中追逐高回报。收益不源于现金流，而源于估值语言的再造。
从金融制度角度看，这种结构利用监管与会计接口的空白。二级市场的折价本应体现流动性风险与未来不确定性，但被用来制造“价值回升”的叙事。可进可退的常青基金让估值成为实时交易参考，由此虚拟收益转变为定价基础。这是资产证券化之后的又一次金融层次漂移——从实质资本向观测数据的套利。
长期而言，这揭示私募市场的流动性幻象：当投资者可以按账面净值赎回，NAV就不再是估值工具，而成为流动性门票。资本通过“估值即收益”的逻辑完成周期压缩，资金行为由长期投资退化为结构性投机。这一机制的延伸，可能让二级基金成为未来金融体系中收益认知与风险真实之间的最大灰区。