(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is embarking on its most ambitious effort yet to offer an exit ramp for investors trapped in buyout funds.

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The firm’s asset-management unit has been pitching investors on the 10th iteration of its flagship secondaries fund, seeking to top the $14.2 billion it brought in for the preceding vehicle, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

In discussions with clients, Goldman executives highlighted the crunch faced by private equity investors, especially college endowments that have turned to the secondary market to shore up their cash needs, one person said, asking not to be identified because the conversations were private.

The ultimate target could change as the bank approaches a wider pool of investors and investment firms fret about lethargic fundraising after a sustained boom in private markets in recent years.

A spokesperson for Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

Secondary deals, in which investors discard their stakes early, are growing in popularity. That has been fueled by a lull in deal activity, leaving buyout firms unwilling or unable to exit their holdings.

Delayed investment returns intensify liquidity pressures at endowments, pension funds and family offices — a key investment bloc for the private equity industry. It has driven such investors, known as limited partners, to secondary sales to satisfy immediate cash needs.

Private equity firms, or general partners, are also relying more on so-called continuation funds, a controversial method of shunting assets from older funds into new ones to give them more time to sell portfolio companies.

Escalating Feud

President Donald Trump’s escalating feud with universities is also weighing on the private equity market. The administration has choked off federal funding and grants for Harvard University and other top schools, and Congress is weighing legislation that would raise taxes on endowments.

That’s pushing some of the bigger endowments toward secondaries — a potential boon for funds that are positioning themselves to benefit from the upheaval.

It has already translated into a fundraising surge for secondary funds trying to entice LPs to pawn off their holdings at a discount. Last year, such transactions totaled about $160 billion, according to an Evercore Inc. report.