On October 2, 2026, Partners Group announced that it would restructure its private equity evergreen strategy. The affected fund is the Global Value SICAV, the company’s flagship in private equity, with reported net assets of 6.6 billion euros. The fund is to be transferred into an umbrella structure with two sub-portfolios: one for growth and the other for selling investments and distributing the proceeds.

The background is growing liquidity problems. Since June, the fund has only been meeting redemption requests up to the quarterly cap set out in the prospectus. The split is intended to separate investors with different objectives. Whether it will be implemented depends on shareholder approval.

The Plan: Growth And Monetization

The so-called Compounding Fund will focus on long-term capital growth. The Distributing Fund will allow investors to realize gains through the orderly sale of portfolio holdings. Both sub-portfolios will be managed under one roof by the same team.

The separation will be based on vintages, not on investors. Partners Group has not yet disclosed which vintages will be allocated to which portfolio. According to Bloomberg, the distributing fund is expected to take over older holdings, while the growth fund will make new investments.

Evan Clark of the EDHEC Infrastructure & Private Assets Research Institute estimates that 75 percent of the assets will be allocated to the distributing fund and 25 percent to the growth fund. Partners Group has not confirmed this split.

Three Options For Existing Investors

Existing investors are to be given three options:

• Stay: They keep their existing exposure.
• Switch: They transfer units from the distributing fund to the growth fund. Technically, this is done through a redemption and a new subscription, taking the respective liquidity conditions into account.
• Exit: They request redemption of their units in one or both sub-portfolios.

Only the growth fund will accept new subscriptions. Partners Group has announced another significant capital commitment from its own balance sheet. According to designated co-CEO Roberto Cagnati, new institutional clients have already expressed interest.

How The Liquidity Problems Developed

The foundations for the new structure were already laid in the spring. On March 2, the board called an extraordinary general meeting to align Article 21 A of the articles of association with the EU AIFMD II directive. Redemption restrictions and deferrals were to be explicitly anchored as tools for liquidity management.

At an initial meeting on March 17, the required quorum of 31 percent was not met. Only at a second meeting on April 1 was approval obtained. Nine weeks later, the new instrument was needed.

On June 3, Partners Group announced that redemption requests for the second quarter had reached around 9.8 percent of net asset value (NAV). That was almost twice the contractual quarterly limit of 5 percent.

At the time, the fund managed $8.6 billion. Liquidity stood at around 15 percent of NAV, and therefore within the target range. An undrawn credit line worth another 15 percent of fund assets provided additional reserves. The news triggered the sharpest single-day share price drop in Partners Group’s stock.

Partners Group emphasized that redemption restrictions are a common feature of evergreen funds. They are intended to protect long-term investors from forced sales. The fund remains open and continues to invest.

When Redemption Limits Are Exhausted

The fund distinguishes between older share classes, which have been closed to new subscriptions since December 2018, and still-open new classes. Both are subject to a separate quarterly redemption limit of 5 percent. New subscriptions can offset redemption requests in the open classes and temporarily benefit those investors.

In two of the four months from May through August, the redemption capacity had already been used up. As a result, investors received little or no payout. According to Citywire, redemption requests again reached the 5 percent limit in the third quarter.

With a new quarter, the cap resets. Unmet requests are carried over to later trading days. However, investors can also cancel the deferred portion and remain invested. Regular redemption opportunities therefore do not guarantee immediate access to capital.

What is at Stake For Partners Group

For the listed asset manager, the Global Value SICAV is strategically important. Of the roughly $186 billion in assets under management, 29 percent is allocated to evergreen vehicles across more than 30 funds.

Since most of these vehicles calculate their management fees based on NAV, every dollar withdrawn reduces the base for recurring fees.

In its business update on July 15, Partners Group said that redemption restrictions had already been triggered, or were expected to be triggered, in three mature strategies distributed across five funds. Redemption requests of more than $1 billion across these strategies had already been rolled over into the second half of the year or submitted.

The company also acknowledged a higher concentration of problematic vintages from 2019 to 2022 in its mature private equity evergreen portfolios. That period caused difficulties across the entire industry. The differences between vintages are therefore at the center of the planned restructuring.

Pressure on Earnings And Growth

Performance fees accounted for less than 20 percent of revenue in the first half of 2026. In the medium term, Partners Group is sticking to a target range of 25 to 40 percent.

On June 4, the company estimated that developments on its evergreen platform could reduce net AUM growth by one to two percentage points in both the second half of 2026 and 2027.

Even so, Partners Group confirmed its forecast of $26 billion to $32 billion in new client commitments. In July, the company reported a record for fundraising in the first half. The planned split is consistent with that forecast.

The Structural Problem of Evergreen Funds

Evergreen funds allow ongoing subscriptions and regular redemptions. But if redemption requests exceed new subscriptions, they must rely on liquidity reserves, asset sales, and contractual safeguards. The aim is to prevent forced sales at unfavorable prices.

The Risk of a Downward Spiral

Evan Clark of the EDHEC institute warned in early October of a self-reinforcing downward spiral: a visible queue of investors asking for their money back can deter new investors. Sale proceeds then have to be used to meet redemption requests, while open capital commitments to the underlying funds still have to be honored.

According to Clark, the Global Value SICAV had more than two billion euros in undrawn capital commitments at the end of 2025.

These commitments have grown with the increasing use of secondary-market investments. Secondaries accounted for around 54 percent of investments in 2024 and around 53 percent in 2025. Around 42 percent of NAV was attributable to the 2021 and 2022 vintages - after three exceptionally strong years for private markets.

Such a portfolio structure can become problematic when liquidity needs rise and the market environment for exits deteriorates at the same time.

Can The Assets be Sold at The Stated Valuations?

The planned split would transfer older holdings into a portfolio for orderly sales and distributions. The smaller growth portfolio could focus on new capital commitments and investments.

The key question is whether the existing assets can be sold at prices close to their stated valuations. Clark points to valuations of around 17.5 times enterprise value to EBITDA at a U.S. sister fund.

He also notes that the listed Partners Group Private Equity Ltd trades at a discount of more than 40 percent to NAV, even though six of its ten largest holdings are also included in the Global Value SICAV. That raises questions about the actually realizable value of the assets.

Partners Group points to previous portfolio adjustments and sales. In 2025, distributions amounted to 16 percent of NAV. For 2026, the company expects once again more than 15 percent. Whether these realizations can be achieved without significant valuation discounts will be decisive for the success of the restructuring.

A Test Case For The Entire Industry

Partners Group is not the only asset manager facing these challenges. According to the company, liquidity pressure began to build in private credit funds toward the end of 2025 and then spread to private equity. Media reports say other asset managers, including Blue Owl, have also introduced 5 percent redemption limits.

Partners Group stands out because of its long experience in the evergreen business. The planned separation could become an important precedent for semi-liquid private markets investments. The decisive issue will be whether both groups of investors can be served without having to sell assets at substantial discounts.

Five Questions Remain Unanswered

The announcement does not yet contain a detailed implementation plan. Five questions remain open:

1. The split: Which vintages will be allocated to which portfolio, and in what proportions? 
2. The queue: How will outstanding redemption requests be handled? By mid-2026, Partners Group had reported more than $1 billion in requests across its three mature evergreen strategies that had been rolled over into the second half of the year or submitted.
3. The exit rules: Will the distributing fund make payments only after actual sales? What liquidity conditions will apply when switching between the portfolios?
4. The valuations: Can the assets be sold close to the reported NAV? Significant discounts could reduce distributions.
5. The timeline: When will shareholders vote, when will the restructuring take effect, and when will the first trading days under the new structure take place?

The Decisive Test is Still Ahead

Until the details are finalized and shareholders have approved the plan, the current rules remain in place, including the quarterly redemption limit of 5 percent.

For investors who want to exit, the announcement changes little in the short term. For those who want to stay invested, however, it opens the prospect of a portfolio that can once again focus on new investments instead of primarily having to fund redemptions.

Whether the approach works depends on the allocation of existing assets, the sale prices achieved, and the agreed liquidity rules. The restructuring could offer an escape route. But its success can only be judged once the full terms are known and both portfolios have begun operating. 

Niko Hatziiosifidis is publisher of semiliquid.info, an independent, privately financed database with information on around 140 semi-liquid private markets funds, including ELTIFs and evergreen structures distributed in Europe. Alongside this private project, he has worked for four years as a senior portfolio manager at Frankfurter Bankgesellschaft Group in Zurich.

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