Partners Group Walls Off EUR 6 Billion Refinancing as Credit Arm Extends Unitranche to DELABO.group

Partners Group is using restrictive covenants embedded in its loan documentation to keep distressed-debt specialists away from three portfolio companies facing repayments in 2028, according to Bloomberg. The clauses are designed to stop hedge funds from buying up the debt of services group Emeria SASU, industrial belting maker Ammega Group BV and watchmaker Breitling AG on the cheap and then wielding influence over restructuring talks.

Roughly EUR 6 billion of liabilities across the three businesses must be refinanced, and the Swiss asset manager wants room to negotiate on its own terms. The mechanism is a familiar one among financial sponsors: contractual barriers that deter creditors focused on distressed situations from building positions ahead of a maturity wall.

Partners Group said it has completed more than USD 49 billion of refinancings, capital raises and repricings across its private equity portfolio since 2024.

Credit platform stays busy

The defensive work on the debt side runs alongside an expansion of the firm's private credit operations. Partners Group's lending platform, acting for its clients, provided DELABO.group with a senior unitranche refinancing that replaces existing borrowings and adds facilities for acquisitions, investment and working capital. The financial volume was not disclosed.

The transaction follows the launch roughly a week earlier of a global multi-sector private credit income strategy. Structured as an open-ended evergreen vehicle, it targets institutional clients and the private wealth segment and invests across direct lending, credit secondaries, fund financings, royalties, and opportunistic and liquid credit. The strategy aims for returns in the high single-digit to low double-digit percentage range, generated primarily through running income.

Buyout desk reshuffled

On the equity side, the group has trimmed or relocated dozens of positions worldwide within its private equity unit, according to media reports. Some staff left the firm, while others moved internally to growth areas such as infrastructure or royalties. Partners Group pushed back against suggestions of a sustained drain, saying headcount in the private equity segment remains in line with its long-term average.

Product structures are shifting too. The Australian Financial Review reported plans to split the flagship Global Value fund into two separate portfolios — one geared to long-term capital appreciation and one to distributions — a move intended to make redemptions easier. A similar step is under review for the Australian vehicle.

Insiders step in

Members of management bought Partners Group paper worth around CHF 21 million on a private basis between 6 and 8 October, per media reports. Disclosures filed with the SIX Swiss Exchange covered in part structured, non-listed financial instruments and did not consist solely of direct share purchases.

The stock closed Friday at EUR 655.20, down 38% since the start of the year, as investor caution toward private-market exposures persists. Completing the EUR 6 billion refinancing without interference from outside creditors would give the firm valuable planning certainty over its largest holdings — and a clearer runway as it repositions both its buyout and credit platforms for a tougher liquidity and rate environment.