Partners Group: Record Fundraising and Royalties Surge Battle Evergreen Redemption Drag
Published on 07/20/2026 at 14:12 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
The Swiss asset manager ended the first half with a $16 billion war chest of new client commitments, yet its stock has shed nearly a third of its value since January. The disconnect encapsulates the tension now gripping Partners Group: a core business firing on all cylinders, while a specific corner of its product lineup — the ever-popular Evergreen funds — raises hard questions about liquidity and growth momentum.
That tension has produced a rare spectacle on the sell side. UBS slashed its price target by 40% to 705 francs on July 20, downgrading the stock from Buy to Neutral, citing pressure on earnings estimates and the risk from redemption gates on the Evergreen vehicles. Hours earlier, the Zürcher Kantonalbank reaffirmed its Overweight rating with a fair value of 1,050 francs, dismissing fears of a drastic dividend cut as "unrealistic" and calling the current valuation "crisis-like." Jefferies, meanwhile, trimmed its target from 760 to 710 francs while keeping a Hold rating.
At the root of the anxiety sits the Partners Group Global Value SICAV, a $8.6 billion private-equity Evergreen fund that activated a redemption gate in early June after investors requested withdrawals equal to 9.8% of net asset value. The mechanism is designed to prevent fire sales, but the market has interpreted it as a canary in the coal mine. Across the entire Evergreen suite, clients pulled $3.8 billion in the first half — nearly four-fifths of that from three mature funds. Partners Group itself expects the redemptions to trim net growth by 1% to 2% in the second half of 2026 and throughout 2027.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Partners Group?
The operational numbers, however, paint a different picture. Gross new client commitments hit a record $16 billion in the first six months, up from $12 billion a year earlier, and assets under management climbed to $186 billion from $174 billion. The company stuck to its full-year guidance of $26 billion to $32 billion in gross client demand. Two areas are flying particularly high: the fourth direct infrastructure program closed at over $15 billion and is already more than 40% deployed across eleven portfolio companies; the royalties strategy, launched in 2024, grew AuM by 50% to $1.5 billion after eight new transactions, including licensing rights to the TV series South Park, the music catalog of The Weeknd, and a mix of pharmaceutical and natural-gas royalties. The royalties portfolio has delivered a 12% gross internal rate of return since inception with volatility below 5%.
Yet even the most successful strategies cannot mask the drag on the income statement. Partners Group warned that performance fees — the most lucrative revenue line — would land at the low end of the long-term target range of 25% to 40% of total revenue for the full year. In the first half, they accounted for less than 20%, weighed down by fewer direct asset sales and weaker performance in the older Evergreen funds. On the listed subsidiary Partners Group Private Equity Limited, the net asset value per share dipped 0.7% to 11.84 euros in May, driven by revaluations in portfolio holdings, notably property manager Emeria.
The stock, which closed at 743.20 euros on the day of the UBS move, has shed roughly 30% since the start of the year and sits 24% below its 200-day moving average of 978.30 euros. A new year-to-date low of 686.80 euros was set in late June. The market is now counting the days to September 1, when Partners Group publishes its full half-year financial report: that release will show whether the Evergreen redemption caps have materially dented earnings and net inflows — and which analyst call is closest to the mark.
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Partners Group Stock: New Analysis - 20 July
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