Partners Group Boosts Dividend While Paring Life Time Stake — A Two-Pronged Play

Swiss private-markets manager raises annual payout to CHF 46 per share but sells off shares of US fitness chain Life Time, as its own stock falls 16% year-to-date.

The Swiss private-markets manager Partners Group is sending mixed signals to the market. On one hand, it has lifted its annual payout to shareholders by more than 9%; on the other, it is actively unwinding a mature equity holding in US fitness chain Life Time Group Holdings. The twin moves come as the company’s own stock slides deeper into the red.

Investors who held Partners Group shares before May 22 are entitled to a gross dividend of CHF 46 per share for the 2025 fiscal year, up from CHF 42 the year before. The payout, approved at the annual general meeting in Baar-Zug, represents a distribution ratio of 95% of net profit. After Switzerland’s 35% withholding tax, the net amount received is lower. The dividend is payable on May 27, and the stock has traded ex-dividend since May 22.

While the dividend increase underscores the company’s confidence in its cash generation, the stock has failed to rally. At the time of writing, Partners Group shares were hovering around €912.80, having fallen roughly 16% since the start of the year and more than 22% over the past twelve months. The distance to the 52-week high of €1,213.50 is nearly a quarter, and the shares are trading more than 13% below their 200-day moving average — a technically bearish setup.

Adding to the narrative of active portfolio management, Partners Group has continued to reduce its exposure to Life Time. On May 21, four funds linked to the group sold 449,960 shares of the US fitness operator at $32.51 each, generating proceeds of roughly $14.6 million. That follows a larger disposal on May 7, when the same funds offloaded 747,178 shares at $31.46 apiece for a total of $23.5 million. After both transactions, Partners Group’s remaining stake stands at 1,981,243 shares — an 18.51% reduction from the position held before the first sale.

All four funds — Partners Group Private Equity Fund, Partners Group Private Equity II, Partners Group Access 83 PF, and Partners Group Series Access II, Series 61 — are indirectly controlled by Partners Group Holding AG. The shares were sold near Life Time’s 52-week high of $35.33; the stock was trading at $33.22 at the time of the second sale. The partial exit fits a familiar pattern for mature private-equity bets that have reached the public markets.

Measured against the CHF 184.9 billion in assets under management that Partners Group reported at the end of 2025, the Life Time sales are modest. Yet they signal that the firm is actively harvesting capital from listed holdings, a dynamic that directly feeds performance fees and future distributions.

The operational engine behind the dividend and the portfolio moves remains solid. For 2025, Partners Group posted revenue of CHF 2.563 billion and net profit of CHF 1.261 billion. Management expects performance fees to account for 25% to 40% of total revenue in 2026, though likely at the lower end of that range because certain transactions were pulled forward into 2025. First-quarter 2026 demand held up well: new client inflows totalled $8.3 billion, while $5.7 billion was returned to investors, mostly from private equity and infrastructure realisations.

The company reaffirmed its full-year guidance for gross new client demand of $26 billion to $32 billion, underpinned by a healthy pipeline of mandates, evergreen vehicles and closed-end private markets programmes. Institutional investors, who make up more than 80% of the client base, also drive more than 80% of inflows, lending credibility to the forecast.

On the technical front, the stock now sits less than 5% above its 52-week low of €870.80. Volatility has spiked to 35.53% on a 30-day basis, well above the market average. The ex-dividend adjustment and a breach of the 50-day moving average on May 26 have added to the downward pressure.

Personnel changes were minimal at the AGM: executive chairman Steffen Meister and all other board members were re-elected unanimously.

The next milestone for investors will come in mid-July, when Partners Group releases an interim update on assets under management as of June 30. A full half-year report follows on September 1. By then, the market will have a clearer picture of whether the operating strength can counterbalance the share-price weakness — and whether further portfolio trimming like the Life Time sales will continue to free up capital for fresh investment themes.