Partners Group considers ‘slightly smaller’ evergreen funds, chairman says

ZURICH, June 25 (Reuters) – Swiss asset manager Partners Group may slightly reduce the size of its evergreen funds in future while sticking to its overall strategy, Chairman Steffen ​Meister was quoted as saying by Bloomberg, after the ‌company recently capped withdrawals from a private equity fund.

Partners Group’s share price has been pummelled since the company said on June 3 it had capped withdrawals from an $8.6 billion open-ended private equity fund, reigniting investor worries about the ‌risks ​of popular alternative investments and spurring a ⁠broad retreat in the ⁠shares of global asset managers.

The decision followed redemption pressure from clients.

Partners Group’s shares are down around 34% this year.

“We clearly don’t see the need to change our strategy based on what ​has happened over the past weeks,” Meister told Bloomberg in an interview published on Wednesday. “We are looking at the open ⁠funds and we might keep them ⁠slightly smaller in size going forward, more aligned to ​flow dynamics over time.”

Rising concerns about private credit fund performance and ​valuations have prompted investors, particularly wealthy retail clients, to ‌pull money from such vehicles. Those pressures have spilled over into private equity.

Partners Group on June 12 issued a statement on its evergreen funds in response to what it called “media interest in unfounded ⁠market rumours” that it was considering additional liquidity restrictions on or freezing its evergreen vehicles.

“Partners Group has no intention of altering any documented ⁠liquidity mechanisms and ‌has no plans to freeze any of its ⁠evergreen vehicles, given their portfolios are healthy and ​they ‌have sufficient liquidity in line with the target ​allocations,” the ⁠company said at the time.

Senior management of Partners Group have backed the firm, buying more than 60 million Swiss francs ($74 million) worth of its shares since June 3, according to stock exchange filings.

($1 = 0.8114 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Ariane Luthi, Oliver Hirt and Dave Graham; Editing ​by Susan Fenton)