Leonard Green’s Sage Push Shows How Big GP-Led Secondaries Have Become

Leonard Green & Partners (LGP) has held a $3.6 billion final close of Sage Equity Investors LP (Sage I), the firm’s inaugural investment program focused on single-asset continuation funds sponsored by third-party private equity managers. The new vehicle had a target of $1.5 billion.

Fund I was supported by both new and existing limited partners including public and corporate pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, family offices, insurance companies and other institutional investors.

“Sage represents a natural extension of LGP’s long history of investing in high-quality businesses and partnering with exceptional sponsors and management teams,” said Jonathan Sokoloff, managing partner of LGP. “We believe the successful launch of Sage reflects both the strength of our platform and the compelling opportunity we see in this rapidly evolving segment of the private markets.”

“The single-asset continuation fund market continues to grow in its size, sophistication, and importance,” said David Fox, co-head of the Sage fund. “Sage is purpose-built to provide speed, certainty and scale to leading sponsors, and we are excited about the depth of the potential opportunity set ahead.”

“We are humbled by the trust our limited partners have placed in us,” said Garrett Hall, co-head of the Sage fund. “Sage is designed to be a thoughtful, long-term partner to exceptional companies, and we believe our scale, discipline, and collaborative approach positions us well to support high-performing assets and sponsors and deliver outstanding returns to our limited partners.”

Los Angeles-based LGP invests in service companies operating in the consumer, business, healthcare, retail, distribution, and industrial sectors. The firm’s most recently closed flagship vehicle is Green Equity Investors IX, which raised $15.2 billion and closed in 2022. The firm is now reported to be fundraising its next flagship vehicle, Green Equity Investors X, with a final close expected in mid-2026.

Kirkland & Ellis provided legal services to LGP for this fundraise.