Partners Group Erects Contractual Firewalls Around EUR 6 Billion Refinancing, Backs Scanntech Round

Partners Group is leaning on contractual fine print to keep distressed-debt specialists away from three of its largest portfolio companies. According to Bloomberg, the Swiss asset manager has written clauses into its loan agreements that bar hedge funds from buying up debt issued by services group Emeria SASU, industrial belt maker Ammega Group BV and watchmaker Breitling AG — a trio whose borrowings are due for refinancing to the tune of roughly EUR 6 billion.

The logic is straightforward. Buyout firms have grown wary of so-called loan-to-own players, funds that snap up debt on the cheap and then use their creditor position to steer restructurings or extract concessions. Blocking such buyers preserves Partners Group's room to manoeuvre when the refinancing gets under way. The firm told Bloomberg it has already wrapped up more than USD 49 billion of refinancings, capital raises and repricings across its private equity portfolio since 2024.

Fresh Capital Deployed on Two Fronts

The defensive work on the debt side has not stopped the group from putting money to work. On 13 October, acting on behalf of its clients, Partners Group took a co-lead role in a Series F round for Scanntech that raised USD 180 million in total, with L Catterton heading the syndicate. The move fits a broader push to channel capital into high-margin growth segments.

Its credit arm has been busy too. For DELABO.group, the Partners Group platform acted as senior lender on a unitranche refinancing arranged for clients. The package bundles existing liabilities with additional acquisition and investment facilities, plus a working capital line to keep day-to-day operations funded.

Fund Architecture Gets a Rethink

Alongside the new commitments, Partners Group is reworking the structure of its existing vehicles. The flagship Global Value SICAV is slated to split into a distribution-oriented portfolio holding older assets and a growth-focused portfolio for newer positions — a design intended to make share redemptions easier to manage. Media reports suggest the same treatment is under consideration for the Australian vehicle. Partners Group has said it will commit its own capital to the growth portfolio.

The buyout division, meanwhile, has been trimmed. Dozens of roles have been cut or shifted internally worldwide, a move a company spokesperson characterised as part of a routine performance review. Partners Group pushed back against talk of a sustained drain, stressing that headcount in the private equity segment remains in line with its long-term average.

Insiders Open Their Wallets

Executives have been buying on their own account. Between 6 and 8 October, members of the management team acquired Partners Group paper worth about CHF 21 million in private transactions, per media reports. Filings with the SIX Swiss Exchange show the purchases included structured, non-listed instruments and were not made up solely of direct share buys.

Sentiment in the stock remains bruised. Partners Group shares closed Friday at EUR 655.20, leaving them down 38% since the start of the year.

How cleanly the fund reorganisations take hold — and whether the EUR 6 billion of refinancings at Emeria, Ammega and Breitling can be completed without interference from outside creditors — will go a long way toward determining whether that gap starts to close. Pulling off the refinancing would hand the firm valuable planning certainty across its biggest holdings.