The Swiss asset management giant benefited from brisk demand for private-market investments in the first half, but also suffered some setbacks. It also landed a potentially massive new market in the U.S.
Partners Group's assets rose in the first half by $2.2 billion to $96.3 billion, it said in a statement on Tuesday. The Zug-based private markets specialist said it clinched commitments for another $8.3 billion.
The favorable showing was dampened by $2.9 billion in so-called tail-down outflows from older private market programs as well as $1.1 billion in redemptions, a $1.5 billion hit due to unfavorable market swings, and a $600 million bite due to foreign exchange moves.
Partners Group landed a coup in the U.S., where the Department of Labor last month decided to allow a specific type of pension plans to «prudently» bake in some private market strategies into their investments. Until now, U.S. pension schemes had been hesitant to invest in the types of private investments Partners offers.
U.S. Pension Coup
The move is noteworthy because the market for defined contribution pensions is huge: the U.S. makes for nearly two-thirds of the total market, with more than $40 trillion in assets, according to data compiled by WillisTowers Watson. Partners Group already sells its products to pension funds in the U.K. and Australia.
«As with our U.K. and Australian defined contribution offerings, we expect the guidance to translate into modest demand from U.S. defined contribution clients initially,» the company's partner and co-founder André Frei said. «However, we anticipate realizing the full potential of our pioneering global defined contribution efforts over the long term.»
