Partners Group's Twin $1 Billion+ Bets Mask a Share Price Still Down 36% From Its Peak
Published on 08/09/2026 at 09:31 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
The Zug-based asset manager Partners Group has spent the week in deal-making overdrive, announcing two major transactions within a single day while its share price continues to claw back from a bruising summer sell-off. The stock closed Friday at €788.60, up 2.28% on the day and 9.01% higher over the past seven trading sessions — a recovery that nonetheless leaves the equity trading roughly 36.40% below its 52-week high of €1,240.00, set on September 2, 2025.
A Data Center Power Play and a French Beauty Target
The centerpiece of Thursday's announcements was the acquisition of a majority stake in AVK Power Solutions, a British provider of power infrastructure for European data centers. Partners Group is committing more than $1 billion in equity to the deal, supplemented by debt financing, as it looks to capitalize on the surging demand for energy infrastructure driven by the rapid expansion of computing capacity. The investment is being channeled through the firm's fourth direct infrastructure program, which recently held a final close at more than $15 billion. AVK's existing management will retain a minority stake.
Running parallel to that transaction, Partners Group confirmed it has entered exclusive negotiations with French investment firm Eurazeo to acquire a majority holding in Aroma-Zone, a natural cosmetics brand. The Financial Times has pegged the deal's value at around €2 billion, while trade publication WWD reports Eurazeo could generate gross proceeds of roughly €576 million while retaining a significant minority interest. Aroma-Zone has tripled its revenue since 2021 and expanded its customer base to more than five million. Partners Group is no stranger to the company — it has been engaged there as a lender since 2021.
Portfolio Progress and Fundraising Momentum
Beyond the headline transactions, the firm has been touting operational wins within its existing portfolio. At Foundation Risk Partners, a US insurance broker, an AI transformation program delivered by Version 1 — a British digitalization specialist that Partners Group acquired in 2022 — lifted EBITDA margins by 120 basis points, translating to a $10 million financial impact.
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The fundraising engine also continues to hum. On July 23, the firm closed an infrastructure secondary program with commitments exceeding $5.5 billion. Its royalty strategy, launched only in early 2024, has seen assets under management surge 50% in six months to $1.5 billion, with 53 investments now on the books — eight added this year alone, including a financing backed by the licensing rights to the TV series "South Park."
The Halves That Tell a Different Story
The operational dynamism stands in sharp contrast to the financial picture painted by the firm's half-year results, released July 15. Assets under management reached $186 billion as of June 30, up from $174 billion a year earlier, with net new client inflows of $16 billion in the first half — comfortably ahead of the $14 billion analysts had expected. But redemptions from the evergreen funds tell a more cautious tale: they totaled $3.8 billion in the first half, with 79% concentrated in three mature evergreen strategies. Performance fees, meanwhile, came in at under 20% of total revenue — well short of the firm's own medium-term target range of 25% to 40%.
The market's reaction to those numbers was swift and unforgiving. On July 16, the stock tumbled 7% before stabilizing around CHF 680. That sell-off prompted UBS to downgrade the shares from Buy to Neutral on July 8, cutting its price target from CHF 1,175 to CHF 705, citing negative earnings-per-share momentum and expectations of further redemption restrictions on mature evergreen funds.
The evergreen concerns have a longer history. In June, Partners Group introduced a redemption cap of 5% per quarter on its Global Value SICAV fund, which manages $8.6 billion in assets. And in late April, research firm Grizzly Reports published a critical note claiming that up to 40% of the evergreen funds' investments were significantly overvalued — allegations Partners Group has rejected.
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Looking Ahead
For the full year 2026, management has reaffirmed its guidance for new client inflows of between $26 billion and $32 billion, though it acknowledged the evergreen platform could shave 1 to 2 percentage points off net AUM growth in the second half. CEO David Layton has also signaled that the board will debate the balance between share buybacks and dividends at its next meeting.
The complete half-year results are due September 1, with the press release scheduled for 7:00 AM and a detailed presentation at 10:00 AM. Whether the recent flurry of deal-making translates into a more robust earnings picture will become clearer then — but for now, the share price math remains as unforgiving as the fee dynamics.
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