What is a tender offer?

In private markets, tender offers are most common in secondaries, where a buyer or the manager offers to purchase LP interests, and in public-company deals, where an acquirer goes straight to shareholders. Terms usually include a minimum acceptance level and can be extended. Often confused with a GP-led restructuring, which typically asks holders to choose between selling and rolling.

Say a buyer offers $12 per share, open for 20 days. Holders who want out sell at that price. Those who do not simply keep their shares.

Holders can say yes or no individually, which makes it a flexible route to liquidity and to taking control.

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