Partners Group Doubles Down on Megatrends With €3bn Twin Acquisition Spree

Swiss private-markets firm invests over €3bn in AVK Power Solutions and Aroma-Zone, betting on AI infrastructure and wellness despite stock weakness.

The Swiss private-markets heavyweight is refusing to let a turbulent stretch for its share price dictate its appetite for deals. Within the space of 48 hours, Partners Group has moved on two separate majority acquisitions spanning data-centre power infrastructure and French natural cosmetics — a combined commitment of roughly €3bn that underscores how the firm continues to hunt for growth in niche markets even as its own stock languishes well below last year's highs.

Powering the AI Boom

The larger of the two transactions, announced late last week, sees Partners Group commit more than $1bn in equity — supplemented by additional debt financing — to take a majority stake in AVK Power Solutions, a UK-based provider of power supply systems for data centres and artificial-intelligence infrastructure. The existing management team at AVK will retain a minority holding. The deal taps into one of the most structurally favoured corners of the market right now: the surging electricity demands of data centres and AI workloads, which have turned power delivery into a critical bottleneck for the technology sector.

A Beauty Bet With a French Flavour

Just a day earlier, news emerged that Partners Group had entered exclusive negotiations with Eurazeo over the acquisition of a majority interest in Aroma-Zone, the French natural-cosmetics and wellness brand. According to the Financial Times, the company carries a price tag of around €2bn. Eurazeo is expected to keep a meaningful minority position following the transaction, allowing the French investor to retain some upside in a brand that has carved out a loyal following in European wellness markets.

The two deals together signal a clear strategic preference: rather than passive financial stakes, Partners Group is building controlling positions in businesses with identifiable growth drivers — in this case, digital infrastructure on one side and consumer goods on the other.

Portfolio Wins Behind the Scenes

Beyond the headline-grabbing acquisitions, the firm has been touting operational progress within its existing holdings. DiversiTech and PremiStar, two US-based heating, ventilation and air-conditioning businesses acquired in 2021, have delivered robust growth since coming under Partners Group's wing — DiversiTech's revenue is up 60%, while PremiStar has doubled its top line. Extreme weather events and a broader push toward energy efficiency have provided a powerful tailwind for both companies.

In a different corner of the portfolio, insurance broker Foundation Risk Partners has seen its EBITDA margin expand by 120 basis points — a roughly $10m impact — following an AI transformation programme developed jointly with Version 1, another portfolio company. These kinds of operational improvements matter more than ever for Partners Group, since the returns generated by portfolio companies ultimately determine both client performance and the management fees the firm can command.

The Share Price Tells a Cooler Story

For all the deal-making momentum, the market's verdict on Partners Group's equity has been decidedly more cautious. The shares closed at €784.00, roughly 5% above their 50-day moving average, suggesting some near-term stabilisation. But the stock remains about 26% below its level at the start of the year, and sits nearly 14% above its 12-month low — a distance that highlights just how far it has fallen. The gap to the 200-day average still stands at roughly 16%.

The recent price action points to a tentative recovery from the worst levels, though it has yet to fully reverse the scepticism that some analysts voiced in early July. The shares have gained about 4.2% over the past 30 days, a modest rebound that nonetheless leaves the stock deep in negative territory for the year.

Buybacks and the Evergreen Overhang

On the corporate level, Partners Group Private Equity Limited — the investment vehicle through which the firm manages its listed exposure — has been buying back its own shares. The latest tranche saw 19,341 shares repurchased at an average price of €7.175, a signal that management views the underlying value of its investment structure as attractive at current levels.

The buyback activity sits against a more complicated backdrop. Fundraising has been solid — new client commitments reached $16bn in the first half of 2026, up from $12bn in the same period a year earlier, and assets under management climbed to $186bn as of 30 June, compared with $174bn a year prior. The firm has reaffirmed its full-year guidance of $26bn to $32bn in fresh capital.

The earnings mix, however, is less encouraging. Performance revenues accounted for less than 20% of total income in the first half, well below the firm's medium-term target range of 25% to 40%, as maturing evergreen strategies delivered weaker results. Redemptions from open-ended evergreen funds totalled $3.8bn in the first half, with 9% of that concentrated in three older funds. Earlier in the summer, the Partners Group Global Value SICAV saw redemption requests equivalent to roughly 9.8% of net asset value, triggering its 5% gating threshold.

Management has also flagged that the evergreen platform will shave one to two percentage points off net asset growth in the second half — a drag the company expects to persist into 2027.

What to Watch

Investors now have a clear date on the calendar: 1 September, when Partners Group is due to publish its full second-quarter results for 2026. The numbers will show whether the operational wins within the portfolio and the fresh multibillion-dollar commitments can offset the softer performance-fee stream — and whether the market's cautious mood finally starts to shift.