Private equity investors who would like to sell their stakes via the secondary market are finding that adequate liquidity doesn't appear to exist. A survey by private equity research firm Preqin found that 11 percent of the 568 institutional investors want to sell fund interests. Of those, only 10 percent want to sell immediately, while 43 percent want to sell in the next 12 months and 47 percent within 12 to 24 months, Reuters notes.

The reason seems to be the massive losses they would have to take if they sold now. "Only those with an extremely distressed portfolio will be willing to exit investments at today's prices," the survey said. The pricing in the market is not exactly precise, but it's clear to some that we may not see a pick up in secondary market valuations any time soon. 

For more:
- here's the Reuters article

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