GP-led Secondaries & Pet Care PE: No Glendower-Neuberger Deal Yet — Key Risks Explained

There is currently no corroborated reporting in mainstream private equity news sources or databases confirming that Glendower and Neuberger jointly led a pet-focused GP-led secondary deal. Searches across multiple archives—including Secondaries Investor, S&P Global, Private Equity News, and sector deal trackers—did not yield specific transaction data matching the description. This suggests that either the primary article is referring to an early or unpublicized stage of a deal, or possibly mis-attributing or conflating the participants.

What is verifiable is that both firms are major players in the GP-led secondary universe: Neuberger Berman closed NB Strategic Capital Fund II at just over US$4 billion in commitments, exceeding its $2.5B target and quadrupling the size of its 2020 predecessor[3]. Glendower Capital, merged into CVC, closed its fifth Global Secondary Opportunities Fund (“SOF V”) at US$5.8B in 2023 [1][3]. These funds are explicitly structured for secondaries/GP-led transactions, and are likely competitive bidders for continuation fund opportunities.

The pet care sector has also seen strong PE interest: transaction volumes in pet care, food, and supplies rose 659% year-over-year in 2023 (though from a modest base) to US$2.89B, with large deals like Blackstone’s Rover acquisition driving much of the growth [6]. Investors view pet care as recession-resilient and benefitting from demographic and behavioral trends, including pet ownership rising among younger generations and increased spend per pet on health/wellness.

The potential strategic rationale for a pet-focused GP-led secondary includes offering LPs liquidity while retaining high-growth pet assets, benefiting from premium valuations in the pet wellness vertical, and aligning with rising demand among LPs for ESG-adjacent and resilient consumer sectors. However, risks include overpaying in competitive LP auctions, valuation uncertainty (especially for growth or early stage businesses), sector-specific regulatory or supply-chain risks, and the complexities of aligning incentives between rolling LPs, new LPs, and GPs.

Questions remain open: What is the actual deal value, structure (single asset vs multiasset), current GP participants, LP rollover vs cash-out mix, sector breakdown (whether “pet” means wellness, health, food, services), competitive dynamics, and how valuation comparisons are set vs open market M&A or IPO exits. Resolving whether the primary article is accurate will depend on further public filings, regulatory disclosures, or confirmation from involved firms.