Moelis’ head of private funds advisory to step down

The head of Moelis & Co’s private funds advisory group has resigned, sources told Buyouts.

Rodney Reid, who joined Moelis in 2021 to build a secondaries advisory function, will work with the firm for a period of time on a transition before exiting, sources said. It’s not clear if Moelis has identified someone to step into the role Reid is vacating.

A spokesperson for Moelis declined to comment.

Moelis eventually tapped Reid to run the entire private funds advisory function that includes primary and secondary services to GPs and LPs.

Moelis remains committed to the business, a source told Buyouts. Reid’s departure will leave a gap at the mid-market focused investment bank as one of the veteran advisers in secondaries.

Reid joined Moelis after working at Evercore on secondaries deals and before that at UBS, according to his profile.

Secondaries advisory has become a desired function at investment banks, and many smaller, mid-market focused financial institutions brought on secondaries talent in recent years to join the competitive landscape.

Along with Moelis, Houlihan Lokey, William Blair, Baird and Guggenheim Partners have all developed secondaries advisory capabilities.

As more GPs than ever look for ways to deliver liquidity back to LPs in a slower exit environment, GP-led continuation fund deals have been on the rise. They are a way to get proceeds to LPs in older funds while hanging on to certain well-performing investments for longer.

Total secondaries volume last year was estimated at about $109 billion, with about $48 billion in GP-led deals like continuation funds, according to Lazard’s full-year secondary volume report. Lazard expects about $120 billion of total volume this year, with about $140 billion expected to be raised to meet the opportunity.