At Partners Group, a Co-Founder's Mea Culpa Comes With an 8.2 Million Franc Check

Fredy Gantner, co-founder of the Swiss private markets giant, spent 8.2 million Swiss francs on Friday scooping up his own company's stock. That purchase — part of a broader insider buying spree totaling more than 20 million francs — signals just how unnerved management is by the selloff that has wiped over 28% from the shares this year.

The damage is evident in the numbers. The stock changed hands at 771.00 euros on Monday, down 1.53% on the day and 14.37% weaker over the past seven sessions. The rout began in earnest after Partners Group announced on June 3 that it would cap redemptions in its flagship Global Value SICAV at 5% of net asset value per quarter. The trigger: redemption requests for the second quarter had surged to an estimated 9.8% of NAV, nearly double the new limit.

That evergreen fund, which sits at the heart of the firm’s liquid-alt platform, holds $8.6 billion in assets. A separate Delaware-domiciled private equity evergreen vehicle also saw redemption requests hit around 6% of NAV, crossing the 5% threshold. The caps were an operational necessity — but they spooked investors already fretting over liquidity mismatches in private markets products.

Compounding the anxiety, a short-seller attack landed in April. Grizzly Research alleged that up to 40% of the investments in Partners Group’s evergreen funds were significantly overvalued. The firm has pushed back forcefully, calling the claims baseless and pursuing legal action. Gantner has gone a step further, announcing he will file criminal charges.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Partners Group?

In an interview with SonntagsZeitung on June 7, Gantner called the market response a “massive overreaction.” But he also acknowledged a painful lesson: Partners Group must do a better job of explaining how its evergreen products work. “We definitely need to communicate more clearly and more proactively,” he said.

The insider buying is meant to back up that promise with action. The 8.2 million franc purchase on Friday follows recent acquisitions by other executives, pushing the total management stake-building past the 20 million franc mark. Gantner himself holds a large block and has been adding to it.

Despite the turmoil, the company is sticking to its 2026 guidance for gross new money inflows of between $26 billion and $32 billion. Net inflows in the first half are expected to outpace redemptions, though management cautions that the evergreen platform could trim asset growth by one to two percentage points in the second half, with a similar drag anticipated in 2027. At the end of 2025, Partners Group oversaw roughly $185 billion in assets.

Outside analysts have taken a mixed view. Morningstar slashed its fair value estimate by 21% on June 4, citing a lack of catalysts. Fitch, meanwhile, said the same day that the elevated redemption requests do not materially impair the firm’s credit profile.

Partners Group at a turning point? This analysis reveals what investors need to know now.

The technical picture remains bleak. The stock is trading 25.92% below its 200-day moving average, and the relative strength index sits at 26.6 — deep in oversold territory. From the start of the year, the decline stands at 29.40%.

The next big test comes on July 15, when Partners Group releases its first-half asset under management figures. Those numbers will provide the first hard evidence of whether the new redemption caps are stabilizing flows. The full half-year report follows on September 1, giving the market a clearer view of how margins, growth, and trust have been affected.

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