StepStone Real Estate Cements Leadership with Two Prestigious PERE Awards

NEW YORK, NY – March 02, 2026 – StepStone Real Estate (SRE), the real estate arm of global private markets giant StepStone Group, has secured two of the industry's most coveted honors at the PERE 2025 Awards. The firm was named Global Indirect Firm of the Year and also took home the European Deal of the Year for its landmark recapitalization of Spanish care home operator Vitalia, underscoring the growing power and sophistication of the real estate secondaries market.

The dual first-place rankings serve as a powerful validation of SRE's specialized strategy, which focuses on providing liquidity solutions and complex capital injections in a market grappling with constrained traditional financing. The awards, which are selected by the editorial board of Private Equity Real Estate (PERE) magazine, are considered a benchmark for excellence and innovation in the global private real estate sector.

“We are proud to be recognized as an industry leader in real estate secondaries and co-investments,” said Jeff Giller, Partner and Head of StepStone Real Estate, in a statement. “Receiving European Deal of the Year for the recapitalization of Vitalia through SREP V, our GP-led secondaries fund, further underscores the strength, depth, and continued success of our GP-led secondaries platform.”

Anatomy of a Landmark Deal

The European Deal of the Year award shines a light on the intricate and impactful recapitalization of Vitalia, one of Spain’s largest care home owner-operators. The €1.5 billion transaction, announced in October 2025, is one of the largest real estate secondaries deals ever completed and the single largest corporate recapitalization financed by a real estate secondaries fund.

In the deal, StepStone Real Estate partnered with European real estate investment firm Greykite to acquire a majority interest from sellers Vivaly Investments BV, a joint venture that included CVC Fund VI and Portobello Capital Fund III. A key component of the transaction was the commitment of over €500 million in fresh growth capital by SRE and Greykite. This infusion is earmarked for upgrading Vitalia's existing portfolio and funding new developments to meet soaring demand.

The strategic rationale is compelling. Spain is facing a projected 40% shortfall in new care home capacity by 2030, driven by one of Europe's most rapidly aging populations. The investment aims to expand Vitalia's capacity to approximately 15,000 beds, directly addressing this critical social infrastructure need while tapping into a strong growth market. The transaction is a textbook example of a General Partner-led (GP-led) secondary, where the new investors work with the existing management to continue growing the business, a far cry from a simple asset sale.

The Engine Behind the Awards: A Specialized Strategy

StepStone Real Estate’s success is built upon a highly specialized approach that has matured significantly since the Global Financial Crisis. The firm has been a pioneer in shifting the secondaries market from passively acquiring Limited Partner (LP) stakes to executing complex, control-oriented GP-led recapitalizations.

The engine powering these deals is StepStone Real Estate Partners V (SREP V), the very fund behind the Vitalia transaction. In a testament to powerful investor confidence, SREP V closed with $3.77 billion in primary commitments, making it the largest real estate secondaries fund ever raised. With co-investments and other vehicles, its total investment program has swelled to $5.3 billion.

This war chest has been actively deployed. SREP V has already committed $3.2 billion across 12 investments, with an average deal size of around $266 million. This scale is a dramatic increase from the firm's earlier funds, reflecting both the growth of the market and SRE's leadership position within it. This strategy allows SRE to provide bespoke capital solutions to fund managers seeking to extend their hold on high-performing assets or to LPs seeking an early exit, creating a win-win scenario that unlocks value and liquidity.

Capitalizing on a Shifting Market Landscape

SRE’s awards come as the entire private real estate secondaries market is experiencing explosive growth. Transaction volumes in real estate secondaries surged to $14.6 billion in 2024, a 49% increase from the previous year, with GP-led deals like the Vitalia recapitalization leading the charge with 52% year-on-year growth.

This boom is fueled by several factors. Many institutional investors (LPs) find themselves over-allocated to private markets after a slowdown in traditional exits, making the secondary market a crucial tool for generating liquidity and rebalancing portfolios. Simultaneously, GPs are increasingly using continuation funds not as a last resort, but as a strategic tool to retain their best assets, inject new capital, and maximize value over a longer horizon.

However, the market is not without its complexities. These sophisticated transactions require careful structuring to manage inherent conflicts of interest, a reality that has drawn increased scrutiny from regulators like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which now often requires fairness opinions to protect all investors. Navigating this evolving landscape requires the deep expertise and proprietary deal flow that firms like StepStone have cultivated.

In a highly competitive environment dominated by giants like Blackstone and Brookfield, StepStone Real Estate's dual PERE awards are a significant achievement. The 2025 awards saw a notable disruption in the usual rankings, with a higher turnover of winners, indicating a dynamic and fiercely contested market. SRE's ability to secure top honors for both its overarching global strategy and a specific, transformative deal highlights its prowess. The Vitalia transaction, in particular, serves as a blueprint for how sophisticated capital can be deployed into essential real estate sectors, creating value for investors while addressing pressing societal needs.