Partners Group considers 'slightly smaller' evergreen funds

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.

-Reuters