Partners Group’s Royalty Push Hits $1.5 Billion, but Redemption Caps Keep Investors Wary
Published on 07/17/2026 at 20:24 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
Partners Group is drawing attention to a promising niche as it tries to steady a stock that has shed nearly 39% from its August 2025 peak. The Swiss private-markets investor’s royalty strategy, launched in 2024, has swelled by 50% to $1.5 billion in assets under management, spanning 53 investments – including licensing rights to South Park, music from The Weeknd, a nasal spray product, and natural-gas royalties. With a portfolio return of roughly 12% per annum and volatility below 5%, the segment has become a rare bright spot. An evergreen fund opened for the strategy in mid-2025.
That growth sits within a broader record fundraising haul: Partners Group gathered $16 billion in new client commitments in the first half of 2026, pushing total assets under management to $186 billion (the company reports in U.S. dollars for this metric, while some other figures are in Swiss francs). Infrastructure accounted for 42% of fresh commitments, and nearly half came from existing institutional relationships. The firm reaffirmed its full-year target of $26 billion to $32 billion in new commitments, though it also flagged a slight net asset decline of 1% to 2% for the period from the second half of 2026 through the first half of 2027.
Yet the operational progress is shadowed by a liquidity squeeze in certain vehicles. The company has indicated it may restrict redemptions in additional private-equity funds after withdrawal requests in one European vehicle exceeded 9%. CEO David Layton defends such gates as necessary to protect long-term investments, but the moves have reignited debate over asset quality and liquidity across the private-markets industry. The most closely watched metric is the Delaware?domiciled private-equity evergreen fund, where tender?window redemption requests in May are estimated at roughly 6% of net asset value – just above the critical 5% threshold. The final figure will be confirmed by the end of July, and how it plays out will be a key test for sentiment.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Partners Group?
The stock climbed 1.92% on Friday to €743.40, but remains 38.74% below its August 2025 record. The relative strength index of 46.0 suggests neither overbought nor oversold conditions, while the share trades 8.9% below its 50?day moving average of €816.05 – leaving technical room for a recovery. Analysts at Vontobel have dismissed some of the more dramatic warnings, calling isolated valuation errors normal in the industry. Still, the annualised 30?day volatility of 33.27% reflects persistent uncertainty.
The Bear case is most forcefully articulated by short seller Grizzly Research, which claims that up to 40% of the investments in Partners Group’s flagship evergreen fund are significantly overvalued. The firm has singled out the holding in watchmaker Breitling as an example. Partners Group rejects the allegations. Adding to the pressure, performance income from direct investments and mature evergreen strategies is expected to dip below 20% of total revenue in the first half – below the medium?term target range of 25% to 40% – as exit activity remains subdued.
For now, the market is weighing two opposing narratives: a record fundraising machine and a fast?growing royalty business against a backdrop of redemption caps, valuation questions, and a stock that has lost nearly 30% year-to-date. The next major milestone comes at the end of July, when the final redemption tally for the Delaware vehicle is due, along with a management conference call. Full half?year earnings in September will then test whether the reaffirmed guidance holds up under closer scrutiny.
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