Liquidity and Redemptions: What Semi-Liquid Actually Means

"Semi-liquid" means an investor may have a scheduled way to request cash back. It does not mean daily liquidity, guaranteed liquidity, or full fulfillment in stress.

This article uses controlled examples only. It does not use real redemption events, real fund names, or live filing rows.

Key takeaways

• Scheduled liquidity is capacity, not a promise that every request will be met.
• Repurchase programs and tender offers can both produce partial fills.
• Caps, queues, resubmission rules, and board discretion control the investor experience.
• Learn teaches the mechanics; product surfaces apply them to actual funds.

Repurchase programs

A repurchase program usually follows this sequence:

1. The fund announces a window.
2. Investors submit requests.
3. The fund calculates requests versus available capacity.
4. The fund accepts all requests or prorates them.
5. Unfilled amounts are cancelled, queued, or resubmitted depending on the documents.

Controlled example: MODEL-CREDIT-LIQUIDITY has a 5% NAV quarterly capacity. Investors request more than the capacity, so the model fill rate is 43%.

Tender offers

A tender offer is a formal offer to repurchase shares during a defined period. It can look similar to a repurchase program, but the document route and board approval mechanics can differ.

Controlled example: MODEL-PE-TENDER has a quarterly tender window and a 3% NAV offer cap. Demand is 2.4 times the offer capacity, so not every request is filled.

Fill rate

Fill rate is accepted amount divided by requested amount.

If a model fund accepts $50 million of $116 million requested, the fill rate is about 43%. The unfilled amount is the investor's remaining liquidity problem.

Gates and suspensions

A gate is a constraint on the requested liquidity. A full suspension is more severe. The key review question is whether the wrapper has a legal repurchase floor or whether liquidity depends on discretionary program terms.

What to inspect

• Cap and cadence.
• Whether the cap is based on NAV, shares, or another denominator.
• Board discretion language.
• Proration methodology.
• Treatment of unfilled requests.
• Timing between request, pricing, payment, and resubmission.

Advisor language

The fund may offer scheduled liquidity, but the documents control capacity. If requests exceed capacity, the investor may receive only a partial fill.

Educational example only. Not based on any specific fund.