Private Equity
Prepalyst has 20 secondaries interview questions with model answers, covering nav discounts, j-curve mitigation, continuation vehicles and pacing. Every question is graded on technical accuracy, completeness and interview communication. Practice is free.
Tests whether a candidate treats reported NAV as evidence rather than fact.
How would you assess whether a private equity fund's reported NAV is reliable?
Tests core market structure in a secondaries interview.
What is the difference between an LP-led and a GP-led secondary transaction?
A junior case-study check on whether an analyst separates cash paid at closing from future funding.
You buy an LP interest with reported NAV of $120m at 75% of NAV. The interest has $35m of unfunded commitments, expected to be drawn evenly over the next two years. What cash is paid at closing, what is the simple total…
A foundational pricing concept in a secondaries interview.
An LP interest is offered at 85% of NAV. What does that tell you, and what does it not tell you?
A standard first-round motivation question at secondaries investors.
Why does secondaries investing appeal to you relative to direct private equity?
A first-round fund-document question at a secondaries investor.
An LP has agreed to sell you an interest in a private equity fund. Why do you need to read the transfer provisions and obtain the GP's consent before treating the purchase as complete?
A basic pricing check in every LP-led case study.
Why do unfunded commitments reduce the price a buyer pays for an LP interest?
A common secondaries case-study modelling prompt.
What are the key inputs in a cash-flow model for an LP secondary purchase?
A special-situations case common in mature secondaries portfolios.
What makes a tail-end fund interest difficult to underwrite?
A GP-led diligence question at secondaries funds.
Which terms tell you whether a GP is aligned in a continuation vehicle?
The structural argument for the secondaries asset class.
Explain the J-curve. How do secondaries mitigate it, and what does an LP give up in exchange?
A portfolio-risk follow-up in LP-led underwriting.
How does concentration change the way you price a secondary portfolio?
A live-deal update question for a secondaries investment team.
You are underwriting an LP portfolio whose largest asset is marked at 14.0x EBITDA. A new quarterly report shows revenue grew 4% versus the budgeted 12%, EBITDA is 8% below plan, and net debt is $40m higher after a…
A portfolio-construction question for secondaries and institutional investor interviews.
How can a secondaries allocation help an LP manage its private markets pacing?
GP-led deals are now most of the secondaries market, and the conflict is the analysis.
A GP proposes moving its best portfolio company into a continuation vehicle. As a secondaries buyer, what do you assess?
Tests whether a candidate can combine valuation and liquidity risk in a fund-level case.
What should a credible downside case include for a secondary portfolio?
A secondaries case-study prompt that tests whether a candidate discounts cash flows rather than anchoring on NAV.
You can buy an LP interest for $72m. Its reported NAV is $90m, with $10m of unfunded commitments. Your base case assumes $20m of distributions in year one, $35m in year three, and $45m in year five, with the $10m…
The core analytical exercise on a secondaries team.
An LP wants to sell a $50m NAV position in a 2019-vintage buyout fund. How do you price it?
An advanced secondaries interview case involving a GP seeking liquidity and fresh primary capital.
A GP offers you a $150m LP portfolio at 82% of NAV, but only if you also make a $50m commitment to its next primary fund. The portfolio has two years of unfunded commitments, and the GP's prior fund is top-quartile but…
A structured-solutions question for advanced secondaries candidates.
Why might an LP choose preferred equity rather than sell a fund interest outright?
Write your answer, get it graded on technical accuracy, completeness and communication, and see exactly which mechanic you missed.
Firm names indicate where a question type is commonly reported in interviews. They are not sourced from, endorsed by, or affiliated with the firms named.