Partners Group Holding AG has eliminated or relocated dozens of positions within its private equity division. The measures form part of ongoing efforts to boost performance under close observation from investors. According to individuals familiar with the matter, certain employees in the unit led by Wolf-Henning Scheider have departed the firm, while others have been reassigned to alternative areas within the company, such as infrastructure or royalties departments. The actions affected locations worldwide and spanned various hierarchy levels across the division, which comprises more than 200 staff members. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity due to the confidential nature of the details.
The performance of older portfolios at Partners Group has lagged behind that of several competitors, prompting investors to increasingly demand capital returns from the firm's evergreen funds. As one of Europe's largest private market investment firms, managing 186 billion US dollars in assets, Partners Group is navigating a turbulent period that included scrutiny from a short-seller alongside questions regarding its asset valuations. A company spokesperson stated that the size of the private equity team remains in line with its long-term average, noting that operational leadership capacities were significantly strengthened over the past year. The spokesperson added that this reflects a buyout environment where generating long-term value and distributing returns demand higher operational effort, and noted that departures followed regular performance reviews. High-profile recent hires include Tarak Mehta, Nicholas Smith Wang, Jennifer Hoh, and Pete Zippelius.
Shares of Partners Group have declined by approximately 40 percent this year, positioning the Zug-based firm among the worst-performing financial stocks in Europe during a broader period of sustained pressure on private equity companies. A recent management restructuring, which saw David Layton transition from chief executive officer to chief investment officer, has done little to halt the share price drop. The firm has encountered a series of write-downs on investments, occasionally involving assets acquired at the peak of the post-covid market. Private equity performance remains sensitive to transaction timing, leaving investments executed near the end of the low-interest-rate era—when valuations surged—under pressure amid elevated interest rates.
Earlier in the year, Partners Group wrote down its stake in healthcare company Pharmathen and discussed transferring control of German toy manufacturer Schleich to its creditors. A potential capital injection for French property services provider Emeria SASU was also considered. Even Breitling, a prominent portfolio asset, has implemented job cuts as the Swiss watchmaker contends with declining luxury sector demand and rising costs. Like peers, Partners Group faces challenges in divesting holdings as swiftly as previously possible, causing investors to wait longer for capital repayments. Certain affluent private individuals have begun utilizing regular redemption options provided by the evergreen structure that Partners Group helped pioneer.
Conversely, some newer private equity investments achieved stronger earnings growth than previously recorded across the firm's 30-year history. Furthermore, newer infrastructure evergreen funds outperformed numerous major competitors, according to a recent analysis by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. To address redemption pressures, Partners Group presented a restructuring plan for one of its primary private equity funds, the 6.6 billion euro Global Value SICAV, proposing a split into two sub-portfolios. Older assets would move to one section, while a smaller selection of newer investments carrying higher potential return probabilities would shift to another. This division aims to provide exiting investors with liquidity avenues while allowing long-term investors to maintain exposure to the fund's more promising assets.
