Allen Partners and FIRSTavenue Partners Launch Secondary Market Platform for Australian and New Zealand Investors

February 2026

Partnership to address growing liquidity and portfolio rebalancing needs amid superannuation industry growth and consolidation

Sydney and London, 13 February 2026 – Allen Partners, a leading fund placement and capital advisory firm, has announced a strategic partnership with FIRSTavenue Partners LLP, the London-headquartered global private capital advisor, to deliver dedicated secondary market liquidity solutions to institutional investors, family offices, high-net-worth investors and GPs across Australia and New Zealand.

The partnership provides local investors with access to FIRSTavenue’s secondary market advisory services, covering LP-led portfolio sales and structured solutions, as well as GP-led restructurings including continuation vehicles, NAV loans and tender offers. It combines Allen Partners’ local origination capability and investor relationships with FIRSTavenue’s global execution infrastructure and buyer network.

The move comes amid accelerating consolidation across Australia’s superannuation industry, where sustained merger activity in recent years has created increasingly complex portfolio integration and liquidity management challenges for both investors and managers.

“Many CIOs are managing portfolios they did not construct, often with legacy commitments or vintage gaps,” said David Vella, Partner at Allen Partners. “This partnership brings together global secondary execution capability with local market understanding, allowing institutions and managers to address these challenges in a more targeted, efficient and cost-effective way.”

FIRSTavenue’s Secondaries Team has executed more than US$25 billion in NAV transactions globally¹ and recently closed three significant infrastructure continuation vehicles. In private fund placement, FIRSTavenue has raised over US$100 billion in capital commitments since inception². The firm’s clients include pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, insurance groups, family offices and GPs seeking liquidity or structured capital solutions.

“Australia and New Zealand represent around two per cent of global private markets capital but have historically had more limited access to scaled secondary execution and structuring capability,” said Nick Chronias, Partner and Head of Capital Solutions at FIRSTavenue. “By combining Allen Partners’ deep regional relationships with our global platform, we are strengthening the secondary market toolkit available to investors and fund managers in the region.”

The firms have already begun discussions with several superannuation funds and managers, with inaugural transactions expected in Q1 2026.

¹This includes the NAV track record of senior Secondaries Team members at prior firms.

²This reflects accumulated fund size totals and includes private funds, private companies, re-ups and co-investments.

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About Allen Partners

Allen Partners (Allen, Allen & Partners Pty Ltd) is a Sydney-based independent fund placement and advisory firm founded by Craig Gribble and Nicholas Allen and regulated by ASIC and holder of an Australian Financial Services Licence. The firm advises alternative asset managers on capital raising across Australia and New Zealand and provides strategic advisory services to institutional investors including superannuation funds, family offices and sovereign wealth funds, having raised or advised on over A$10bn of capital transactions since the firm’s inception in 2009. Allen Partners brings established relationships across Australia’s institutional investor landscape and a deep understanding of local market dynamics.

About FIRSTavenue

FIRSTavenue Partners LLP is an independent, London-based advisory and capital placement firm specialising in private markets. The firm operates across primary fund placement and secondary transactions. First Avenue Partners LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. In the US, FAP USA L.P. is a member of FINRA and SIPC. In Hong Kong, First Avenue Partners (Asia) Limited is licensed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. First Avenue Partners (Europe) GmbH is authorized and regulated by the German Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin).

Media enquiries:

Allen Partners – David Vella ✉ david.vella@allenpartners.com.au

FIRSTavenue – Paul Buckley ✉ pbuckley@firstavenue.com

Allen Partners and FIRSTavenue Partners Launch Secondary Market Platform for Australian and New Zealand Investors

Allen Partners and FIRSTavenue Partners Launch Secondary Market Platform for Australian and New Zealand Investors

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