Partners Group raises $2.8b for global secondaries program

This comes approximately four years after the firm raised EUR2 billion for its previous program. AVCJ understands that 80% of that corpus was used to acquire LP interests in funds, while the remainder went towards non-traditional or secondary direct investments. Asia-based assets accounted for about one fifth of the overall program.

Like its predecessor, the new program will invest globally, taking advantage of Partners Group's broad footprint and wide range of existing GP relationships. However, Adam Howarth, co-head of private equity secondaries, said in a statement that as the market has matured and grown in size, Partners Group has increased its focus on non-traditional deals, "structured to ensure that both the returns for our clients and the exit proposition for sellers are attractive."

The firm targets assets that are either undervalued with the potential for significant upside or mature with high exit visibility. In 2015, Partners Group screened more than $91 billion in private equity secondary opportunities, but only participated in 1% of these, largely due to a high-price environment. Stephan Schäli, co-head of private equity, noted that given the recent volatility in equity markets, prices are likely to come down.

"Since the close of our 2011 program, the private equity secondary market has further matured and is today an established portfolio management tool among the most sophisticated private markets investors. As a result, we benefit from increased deal flow, providing us with a range of attractive investment opportunities globally," he said.

Partners Group made its first secondaries investment in 1998 and has since committed more than $13 billion to the strategy. The private markets investor has in excess of $50 billion under management globally across private equity, real estate, infrastructure and private debt.

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• Topics
• Fundraising
• Secondaries
• Secondaries
• Partners Group