Partners Group Defends 2026 Growth Target While Reworking €6.6 Billion Flagship Fund

Partners Group reaffirms solid net AuM growth for 2026 despite redemption worries; UBS trimmed its target to CHF 670 and the stock sits near a 52-week low.

Partners Group is holding its ground. Even as concerns about client redemptions from its evergreen vehicles continue to swirl, the Swiss asset manager reaffirmed on Friday that it still expects solid net AuM growth for the full year 2026 — a message that offered shareholders some relief, lifting the stock to a close of EUR 647.40.

The reassurance lands at a moment of heightened investor jitters. Worries about institutional money leaving the firm's semi-liquid funds have weighed on sentiment for months, and management is now signaling that inflows remain healthy across the broader portfolio. Whether that confidence holds depends largely on the pace of new business, which market participants treat as the key gauge: if the asset manager delivers the AuM growth it has guided toward, earnings worries should gradually fade.

A Chart That Tells a Harder Story

The cautious optimism contrasts sharply with the technical picture. The shares have shed 39% since the start of the year, and Friday's close leaves them hovering near a 52-week low of EUR 623.00. Much of that decline traces back to persistent questions about the future earnings power of private-markets specialists as a group.

Views on the stock remain divided. Some observers worry that a delayed recovery in assets under management could suppress earnings for longer than hoped.

UBS Trims Its Target

Those operational hurdles came into focus on September 28, when UBS analyst Mate Nemes cut his 12-month price target on Partners Group to CHF 670 from CHF 705, keeping a "Neutral" rating. Nemes pointed to delayed exits from portfolio companies, more conservative return assumptions and higher costs for currency hedging as the reasons behind the adjustment.

The broader listed private equity segment has indeed struggled. In an interview on Tuesday, senior portfolio manager Benjamin Lorenz noted that the sector has underperformed the wider stock market this year, with particular weakness in software singled out as a major drag on sentiment.

Two Portfolios, Two Mandates

Partners Group is responding to shifting market conditions on the product side as well. On Friday the firm announced it will convert its established Global Value SICAV into a fund of funds built around two specialized sub-portfolios. The strategy carries a net asset value of EUR 6.6 billion and has returned 4.5 times the capital invested since inception.

Subject to shareholder approval, one sleeve — a Compounding Fund — will target long-term value creation, while a distributing portfolio will focus on realizing returns. The restructuring is designed to address investors' changing liquidity preferences and to create more flexible terms for capital commitments.

Selective Deals Keep the Pipeline Moving

Alongside the fund overhaul, the manager is opening new fronts. On September 15, Partners Group became the largest external shareholder in SEG, an international sports talent agency — a transaction that marks its entry into the sports sector. The plan is to more than double the initial equity investment, with founder Kees Vos and existing shareholders retaining their stakes.

The group's financing arm is active too. On the same day, it arranged a senior financing package of more than EUR 300 million for MDT technologies, supporting Bregal Unternehmerkapital's acquisition of a majority stake in the electronics manufacturer from IK Partners.

For investors, these moves make one thing clear: even in a difficult environment, Partners Group is pressing ahead with selective commitments. The slow monetization of existing holdings, however, remains the central obstacle to a faster recovery — and the reason the stock continues to trade at a marked discount.