CPP Investments Sells C$1.2 Billion in PE Fund Stakes to Ares and CVC

TORONTO — The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board says it has sold a portfolio of 25 private equity fund interests in North American and European buyout funds for $1.2 billion in net proceeds.
The board says the buyers are Ares Management Private Equity Secondaries funds and CVC Secondary Partners, the secondaries business of CVC.
Ares is a global alternative investment manager, while CVC is a global private markets manager focused on private equity, secondaries, credit and infrastructure.
The portfolio sold included primary commitments and secondary purchases made by CPP Investments in funds over 10 years old.
Dushy Sivanithy, CPP Investment’s head of secondaries, says the deal was part of its active portfolio management.
CPP Investments’ net assets totalled $699.6 billion at Dec. 31, 2024.
CPP Investments recently issued a press release on this transaction:
London, U.K. (April 17, 2025) – Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) today announced it has completed the sale of a diversified portfolio of 25 limited partnership fund interests in North American and European buyout funds to Ares Management Private Equity Secondaries funds (Ares) and CVC Secondary Partners, the Secondaries business of CVC.
Ares is a leading global alternative investment manager offering primary and secondary investment solutions across asset classes with over US$525 billion of assets under management, and CVC is a leading global private markets manager focused on private equity, secondaries, credit and infrastructure with €200 billion of assets under management.
CPP Investments’ net proceeds from the transaction, after certain costs and adjustments, were approximately C$1.2 billion. The transaction completed on 31st March 2025.
“This transaction was undertaken as part of our active portfolio management activities. As a systematic buyer and seller in the secondaries market, we see this sale as an attractive opportunity to optimize the construction of our portfolio,” said Dushy Sivanithy, Managing Director & Head of Secondaries, CPP Investments. “Ongoing management of our private equity commitments continues to realize strong returns for the CPP Fund.”
The portfolio of interests represents various primary commitments and secondary purchases made by CPP Investments in funds over 10 years old.
CPP Investments’ net investments in private equity totalled C$151.2 billion at December 31, 2024. The portfolio is invested in a wide range of private equity assets globally, focusing on long-term value creation through commitments to funds, secondary markets and direct investments in private companies.
About CPP Investments
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments™) is a professional investment management organization that manages the Fund in the best interest of the more than 22 million contributors and beneficiaries of the Canada Pension Plan. In order to build diversified portfolios of assets, investments are made around the world in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure and fixed income. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, New York City, San Francisco, São Paulo and Sydney, CPP Investments is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm’s length from governments. At December 31, 2024, the Fund totalled C$699.6 billion. For more information, please visit www.cppinvestments.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram or on X @CPPInvestments.
So what's this all about? Why is CPP Investments, one of the largest allocators in private equity, selling stakes in private equity funds?
Dushy Sivanithy,
Managing Director & Head of Secondaries at CPP Investments (featured above) states the following:
“This transaction was undertaken as part of our active portfolio management activities. As a systematic buyer and seller in the secondaries market, we see this sale as an attractive opportunity to optimize the construction of our portfolio. Ongoing management of our private equity commitments continues to realize strong returns for the CPP Fund.”
What does he mean by active portfolio management? These aren't liquid stocks which you can trade in and out of, these are illiquid stakes in private equity funds that invest in private companies.
True but this is where the burgeoning secondaries market in private equity comes into play.
Back in 2004 when I was helping Derek Murphy set up private equity as an asset class at PSP Investments, the secondaries market in private equity was nowhere near as large and liquid as it is nowadays.
And when you sold stakes back then, it was because you were desperate and sold at deep discounts (10-20%).
Fast forward to 2025, a huge investor like CPP Investments calls top private equity funds like Ares and CVC to unload some over $1 billion in fund stakes and this deal can get done in a few weeks and at a very reasonable discount (typically 5%).
But why is CPP Investments selling old fund stakes in private equity?
There are many reasons but my best guess is they are shoring up liquidity and diversifying vintage year risk.
In order to properly manage a huge C$151.2 billion private equity portfolio where funds make up 40% to 50% and rest is co-investments, directs and secondaries, you really need to manage your liquidity and properly diversify your vintage year risk.
If you do not properly diversify vintage year risk, you can get killed on a bad year and good luck making up the shortfall.
Also worth noting that CPP Investments isn't the only large Canadian pension investment manager selling PE stakes.
Late last year, PSP and OTPP sold $1 billion plus in PE stakes.
I noted this when I wrote that comment:
Go back to read my comments on BCI's Jim Pittman on staying focused, liquid and agile in private equity and it selling $1 billion of PE holdings to Ardian as well as my comments on CDPQ's head of PE on vintage year diversification and managing liquidity and how it used secondaries market to address overallocation.
Jim Pittman, Martin Longchamps and the heads of private equity across Canada's large pension funds have been quietly selling underperfoming stakes at a small discount to free up monies to invest in better opportunities going forward.
The reason they are able to do this is because the secondaries market has matured and is widely used now to manage portfolio liquidity.
And it's been a tough couple of years in private equity and everyone is feeling the pinch.
These are tough time sin private equity, exits are challenging, rates remain stubbornly high, costs are going up, and so on and so on.
It's still a great asset class but now more than ever, you better get the approach right by investing with top strategic partners and co-investing alongside them to reduce fee drag and really lean into them to leverage your size to get the best terms.
Canada's large pension investment managers are cutting back on purely direct investments and doing exactly that.
There's not much of a choice, you either do that or risk severe underpeformance in one of the most important asset classes to capture long-term returns.
So, trust Dushy Sivanithy, he's a smart guy, has tons of great experience having worked at Rede Partners, CDC Group and Pantheon before joining CPP Investments.
Earlier this year, he was named one of Private Equity News' most influential figures in secondaries:

Very talented guy who is also working for a more inclusive and diverse private equity landscape.
Alright, let me end it there, just remember this, the secondaries market is now huge and a lot more liquid, and top PE firms like Ares and CVC are great partners to have to unload fund stakes at a reasonable discount when these large allocators are diversifying vintage year risk.
Below, Cari Lodge, head of secondaries at CF Private Equity joins the Private Equity podcasts to discuss the astronomical growth in the secondaries market.
Great discussion, listen to her insights."Being in the secondaries business, we see a lot of funds and we see a lot of what goes wrong in the private equity market that makes people want to sell things. One of the most common mistakes PE firms make is holding on to assets too long. If you look at the average holding period in the private equity market, it's gone from 5.7 years to 6.7 years. The secondary market exists because people want liquidity and we see it all the time."
Also, private credit secondaries has the potential to surpass private equity in deal volume over the longer term as more secondaries investors pursue yield and diversification amid market volatility.
Over the past year, several billion-dollar-plus deals have emerged in the credit secondaries space, including Coller Capital's recent acquisition of a $1.6 billion portfolio from American National and TPG Angelo Gordon's $1.5 billion continuation fund. Firms like Coller, Pantheon, Apollo Global Management and Ares Management have also launched dedicated credit secondaries strategies..
In this episode, Michael Schad, head of secondaries at Coller Capital, and Gerald Cooper, global co-head of secondaries advisory at Campbell Lutyens, speak with Americas Correspondent Hannah Zhang about the evolution of the private credit secondaries market and where the next opportunities may emerge.
"Most of the asset managers are sitting on tens of billions of NAV. So it lends itself to a secondary opportunity that is inevitably going to continue to grow and be of scale," Cooper said in the podcast. "I think as we look five to 10 years down the road, we are hopeful that we are going to see more specialised pockets of capital come into the space."
This too is a fantastic discussion and I agree, the private credit secondaries market will eventually eclipse the private equity secondaries market and this market is evolving very quickly.
Listen carefully to both podcasts. I can assure you CPP Investments is a huge investor in both markets.
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