Private Equity Deals & Transactions

FX and hedge fund redemptions hit Partners Group growth

The quoted Swiss alternative asset manager saw its growth falter as foreign exchange and hedge fund outflows hit the increase in assets under management in its pre-close statement.

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Partners Group, a global alternative asset manager, said its estimated assets under management as of 30 June 2008 had increased by CHF 1.0 billion ($974 million; €621 million) to CHF 25.4 billion compared with the previous year.

Overall direct asset growth, including new assets raised and changes to existing investment programmes, amounted to CHF 3.8 billion.

Partners Group’s private markets business lines, which are private equity, private debt, private real estate, have enjoyed sustained demand with direct asset growth of CHF 3.5 billion, corresponding to an annualised growth of 39 percent.

It said this reflected a continued shift towards private market allocations among investors.

There were solid inflows over the whole spectrum, with an emphasis on programmes focused on mezzanine investments, secondary opportunities, the Asia-Pacific region and European small and mid cap buyout investments.

Net asset growth was temporarily slowed by CHF 1.4 billion of primarily adverse foreign exchange developments and to a lesser extent negative performance effects in the liquid strategies and redemptions of CHF 1.4 billion in its hedge fund business.

Partners Group is in the process of redefining its hedge fund strategy, it said, in an increasingly challenging and highly correlated public market environment.