Partners Group Pivots to Continuation Vehicle as Leadership Handover Looms
Published on 09/19/2026 at 16:10 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Partners Group is weighing a sizable reshuffle inside its private credit book, even as the Swiss asset manager grapples with softer earnings and a share price camped near its yearly low. According to Bloomberg, the firm is examining the transfer of roughly EUR 800 million in private credit loans into a so-called continuation vehicle — a structure designed to give institutional clients more say over how long they hold their positions. The loans in question would be pulled from several older funds and moved into the new wrapper, a sum equivalent to about USD 917 million.
The mechanics of the deal touch debt held in the Private Markets Credit Strategies funds launched in 2018 and 2020, along with positions from the fifth, sixth and seventh vintages of the Multi-Asset Credit strategy. Investors in those pools would be offered a choice: roll their commitments into the continuation vehicle or take an early payout on their stakes. For a group overseeing USD 186 billion in total assets, the maneuver sits within a tightly defined perimeter. Partners Group's private credit book stood at USD 40.5 billion as of June 30, 2026, meaning the proposed transaction covers about 2 percent of that loan portfolio.
A Secondaries Market Running Hot
The move taps into a broader industry shift. With traditional exits via IPOs or trade sales stalling in recent quarters, alternative managers are hunting for ways to return capital to clients without dumping sound loans at fire-sale prices. Global credit secondaries volume topped USD 20 billion in the first half of 2026 — more than double the level recorded in the same period of 2025. Partners Group is also growing the segment through fresh business, having locked up an evergreen mandate in Asia worth USD 1 billion in August 2026.
That expansion push runs alongside a leadership transition that will reshape the top of the house. CEO David Layton will step down from the executive team on January 1, 2027, though he will stay on as Chief Investment Officer. Roberto Cagnati and Juri Jenkner will take over as co-CEOs, a split-leadership arrangement intended to preserve continuity in investment decisions while spreading overall management across two sets of shoulders. The incoming duo inherits the task of unlocking efficiency gains and steering the global portfolio through shifting market cycles.
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Fee Engine Sputters
The backdrop is hardly forgiving. Three weeks ago, Partners Group reported first-half results showing net income down 13 percent to CHF 502 million. Management attributed the decline to delayed exits, worries over fund performance and client withdrawals. A sluggish market for company sales tends to stall the realization of value gains across the buyout industry: when holdings linger in the portfolio, planned capital returns to investors slip, which in turn crimps the carried interest that normally forms a core pillar of profitability for managers in this space.
On full-year targets, the firm reaffirmed expected gross new client demand of up to USD 32 billion. Even so, it trimmed its ambitions for variable revenue in a meaningful way: performance income is now projected to account for just 20 to 25 percent of total revenue. That marks a notable pullback from the far higher range the company had previously set as a medium- to long-term goal.
Geographic expansion continues in parallel. On September 10, Partners Group opened an office in Stockholm to deepen its Nordic footprint, with Carina Spitzkopf taking the helm as Head of Direct Lending DACH & Nordics. The outpost is meant to build the local direct lending franchise and strengthen access to regional financing.
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Shares Stay Pinned Near the Floor
None of it has done much for the stock. The combination of thinner margins and downgraded revenue expectations has weighed on the shares for months. The equity closed Friday at EUR 648.60, leaving it just 0.4 percent above its 52-week low of EUR 646.00 touched the same day. Year to date, the decline amounts to 39 percent, placing the stock among the weaker performers in the European financial sector. Whether the planned fund structure can shore up confidence in the earning power of the private credit strategies is a question the coming months will have to answer.
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