Nate Walton

Nate Walton is a Partner and Head of Private Equity in the Ares Secondaries Group, overseeing a $42 billion secondaries business at one of the world's largest alternative asset managers. He makes the case that GP demand for secondary solutions is driven by upside maximization rather than distress, noting that roughly 80% of top-tier GPs have now used a continuation vehicle. Walton sees continuation funds becoming a permanent feature of private equity capital markets and predicts continued record CV volumes regardless of M&A market conditions.

• Gp demand for secondary solutions driven by growth, not distress
• Continuation vehicles as a standard tool across top private equity managers
• Gp stakes and preferred financing as sophisticated capital stack solutions
• Real assets and infrastructure as the next frontier for continuation vehicles
• Carried interest and management fee structures as collateral for GP financing
• Secular versus cyclical drivers of secondaries market volume growth
• Succession planning and generational transitions using GP-led structures
• Portfolio quality selectivity in large-scale continuation fund investing

Liquid Courage Episodes / Events

• Ares Management's Nate Walton Says Secondaries are 'About Growth not Challenge'2026-03-07
• Innovations in Liquidity 2027Speaker