Partners Group Co-Founder Owns Up to Communication Gaps as Stock Sheds 13.5% on Short-Seller and Redemption Concerns

Fredy Gantner concedes inadequate investor communication after short-seller report and redemption caps drive shares down 28% YTD; insider buying of CHF 20M fails to calm markets.

Fredy Gantner, co-founder of Partners Group, has acknowledged that the Swiss private-equity firm failed to keep investors properly informed, as a withering short-seller report and restrictions on redemptions from two open-ended funds drove the stock to a 52-week low. In weekend interviews with Swiss newspapers, Gantner called the market’s reaction a “massive overreaction” but conceded that the company’s communication around its evergreen fund structures had been inadequate. The damage, however, was already done: the shares closed Friday at €783.00, down 13.5% for the week and roughly 28% since the start of 2026.

The trouble began when Grizzly Research published a report accusing Partners Group of artificially inflating valuations in its open-ended fund structures. The short seller alleged that the company was keeping valuations high to mask underlying weakness, prompting the firm to fire back with claims that the allegations were “completely unfounded and defamatory.” Partners Group has since initiated legal proceedings for market manipulation, though Grizzly Research has yet to respond to the rebuttal.

Compounding the angst, reports emerged that Partners Group had imposed redemption caps on certain evergreen funds — permanently open vehicles that have become popular among retail investors for offering access to private assets. The move echoed similar steps taken by Blackstone, with analysts pointing to a broader liquidity crunch driven by massive capital demand for artificial-intelligence investments and upcoming blockbuster IPOs such as SpaceX. Gantner played down the caps as a routine precaution, but the coincidence of the two events spooked the market.

To restore faith, the management team put its own money on the line. Gantner and other executives bought shares worth more than 20 million Swiss francs in recent days. The co-founder, who saw more than a billion francs evaporate from his personal paper fortune during the selloff, said he had no intention of reducing his stake. The insider purchases are meant to signal confidence, but they cannot substitute for hard operational evidence.

On the business front, Gantner reaffirmed the company’s target of gross new money inflows between $26 billion and $32 billion for 2026 — a range that, if achieved, would represent a record year. He also highlighted a potential dividend yield of roughly 7% at the current share price, a figure likely to attract value-oriented investors. The firm blamed part of the broader market pressure on geopolitical strains linked to the Iran conflict, though that does little to address the specific questions surrounding fund liquidity and transparency.

Technically, the stock remains on shaky ground. The relative strength index stands at 27.7, signaling oversold conditions, yet the price still trades nearly 25% below its 200-day moving average of €1,042.77. Friday’s marginal 0.57% gain offered a brief reprieve from the drubbing, but the chart remains heavily damaged as long as the stock hovers just 7% above its fresh 52-week trough of €733.00.

The coming days will determine whether the combination of insider buying, a legal offensive, and a more open communication stance can convince investors that the selloff was indeed overdone. Without concrete data on fund redemption levels and net flows, the recovery that began on Friday remains fragile. Gantner has promised to explain the business more clearly going forward — a pledge that, in the trust-dependent world of private equity, may prove as important as any financial metric.