How an exit works
Three routes to liquidity for a position held through an SPV — listing, acquisition, secondary sale — and why none of them has a date.
The short answer
Money comes back when the company has a liquidity event and the SPV realises its position: a listing, an acquisition, or a sale of the shares on the secondary market. There is no fourth route and no date attached to any of the three. A listing is the start of the exit, not the end of it. Existing holders are typically locked up for a period afterwards, and a position held through a vehicle is realised when the vehicle sells — which can be later still.
What happens in each
Listing The company goes public. After the lock-up expires the SPV sells the shares, or distributes them, according to what its documents provide for. The price is then whatever the market is paying, which is not the price at listing. Acquisition The company is bought. The SPV receives cash, or shares in the acquirer, or a mixture, on the terms agreed for its class of shares, and distributes what it receives. Secondary sale The SPV sells the position to another investor before any listing.
You generally cannot exit your own interest on your own
An interest in an SPV is ordinarily not transferable without the manager’s consent, and the company’s own transfer restrictions sit above that. There is no exchange for it and no redemption right. If you may need the money on a particular date, this is the wrong instrument regardless of how good the company is — see what an SPV is.
What happens in the months after a listing
Existing holders are usually restricted from selling for a defined period after a company lists — the terms are set in the offering documents. The vehicle is an existing holder, so it is restricted too, whatever the share price is doing in the meantime. When the restriction lifts, the vehicle sells or distributes according to its own documents. Selling a sizeable stake is a process rather than a single order, and what matters is the price achieved across that process, not the headline on the first day of trading.
Years, not quarters
Companies stay private far longer than they used to: the median technology company now lists roughly eleven years after it was founded, against about four a generation ago. A late-stage position is therefore measured in years from entry to any liquidity event, and the horizon to plan on is at least three. A listing is not a gain A company reaching the public market says nothing about the price it reaches it at, or where it trades afterwards. Filings are withdrawn, delayed and repriced, and listed shares can trade below their offer price for a long time.
How proceeds reach you
The SPV realises the position, settles the costs and the performance share its documents provide for, and distributes the remainder to its investors in proportion to their interests. Notice arrives in the app and by email. How to track your portfolio and reporting shows where the record of it lives.