Partners Group

Partners Group Holding AG is a Swiss-based global private equity firm with US$149 billion in assets under management in private equity, private infrastructure, private real estate and private debt.

The firm manages a broad range of funds, structured products and customized portfolios for an international clientele of institutional investors, private banks and other financial institutions. The firm has completed more than 250 private equity investments in portfolio companies. As end of 2021, Partners Group is the fifth most-valuable publicly listed private markets firm in the world by market capitalization.

Since 2020 Partners Group is a component of the Swiss Market Index.

Early history (1996-2010)
Partners Group was co-founded in 1996 by Urs Wietlisbach, Marcel Erni and Alfred Gantner in Zug, Switzerland. Each of the co-founders contributed an equal share to the initial pool in the first year. In the firm's second year it had its first major milestone, launching a US$150 million small & midcap fund focused on investments in German-speaking Europe. The fund was a huge success in mainland Europe. According to Institutional Investor magazine, this is partly due to the lack of competition at the time in Europe compared to North America. In the same article, co-founder Alfred Gantner stated “you had to explain the term to people because ‘private equity’ in the way we understand it today did not exist, it was called Risikokapital, risk capital, which was associated with venture capital.”

In 1998, it completed the secondary transaction of the private equity portfolio of Royal Dutch Shell’s U.S. pension fund for US$265 million. At the time, it was the largest secondary transaction recorded. In 2002, Partners Group was an early investor in Esmertec, a Java client software maker. Partners Group is a joint stock company under Swiss law, listed on the Swiss Exchange since its 2006 initial public offering (minority floating). Around 45% of the shares are held by employees and partners. As of 2016, according to Forbes' annual billionaire's list, founders Gantner, Erni, and Wietlisbach are listed as three of the 25 wealthiest private equity managers in the world, each with net worths totaling $1.3 billion. Since 2001, Partners Group has pioneered evergreen funds in private markets and launched the first European Long Term Investment Fund (ELTIF) in 2017.

Beginning in late 2004, Partners Group made a number of announcements about the opening of new global offices. This began with the Asia Pacific region, with the opening of an office in Singapore in December 2004. The regional office would be responsible for the Asian-focused fund of funds and the investment firm's push into Asia. Christoph Rubeli was responsible for overseeing the expansion. In March 2005, the investment firm opened its first UK-based office in London due to its growing investor base in the region. Erik Kaas of PG's executive board would manage the UK operations. Partners Group by 2005 had $6 billion in assets under management, and was benefitting from the growing private equity industry. The Financial Times reported that private equity funds had raised $60 billion in first half of 2005 compared with $90 billion for the whole of 2004, demonstrating a growing demand for private equity. Wietlisbach was quoted stating he saw continued growth in the industry as "generalist funds will struggle to attract new money." Partners Group reported in its 2007 annual report that the firm had undergone a period of rapid expansion over the previous 24 months. During that time, it has more than doubled its assets under management, employee numbers and its annual net profit figure. Two years after launching its first Asian private equity fund, the firm expanded its presence in Asia with the opening of its Japanese office in the countries capital Tokyo. As an early investor in Swiss-based semi-conductor manufacturer u-blox, Partners Group benefitted when the company announced it would be going public by the end of 2007.

On February 6, 2009, Partners Group announced that Peter Wuffli would be joining its board of directors. Wuffli had previously served as CEO UBS AG until 2007. Partners Group launched the Private Equity Master Fund in 2009. The fund was one of the first to meet the requirements of the Investment Company Act of 1940, and one of the first SEC-regulated funds available in the United States. Since its launch, the fund has consistently remained as largest entrant in this sector with US$10.5 billion in assets in 2024. According to the firm's 2010 Annual Report, total assets under management grew from €17.3 billion in 2009 to €21.4 billion in 2010.

Recent history (2011-present)
As of 30 November 2011, Partners Group has been included in the MSCI Switzerland Index, after having been included in mid-September in the Swiss Small & Mid Cap Index (SMIM Index) which tracks the 30 biggest listed companies in Switzerland that are not listed by the Swiss Market Index.

At Private Equity International's 2012 awards, Partners Group were standout winners at the awards ceremony, as they were the only firm to win three categories. During the same year, Partners Group announced it was investing an undisclosed amount in solar panel production company, RioGlass. In 2014, Partners Group announced that it had closed its third direct investment fund at its hard cap of €1.5 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported the financial firm would likely continue its strategic focus on buyouts. It also held its first investor conference in the United States during the same yeat. Partners Group expanded its real estate portfolio in 2015 with a number of purchases in the United States. Hotels in New York and Tennessee, along with land in California, were purchased for a total of US$163 million. In January 2018, Royal Dutch Shell purchased the company's 44% minority interest in solar energy firm Silicon Ranch for an estimated $200 million. Around the same time, Partners Group continued with its efforts to invest in green technology companies by investing in the Borssele Offshore Wind Farm project off the coast of the Netherlands. It acquired a 45% stake in the wind farm. Partners Group continued with acquisitions throughout 2018, including two other major deals. The first was German smart metre business Techem followed by Megadyne SpA and Ammeraal Beltech Holding BV. Bloomberg reported in October 2018 that the firm was seeking to raise a reported $5.8 billion for its fourth buyout fund. In 2019, the former UK Prime Minister and chancellor Gordon Brown was announced as an advisor to Partners Group. His role would be to advise the private equity firm on impact investments. During the same year PG announced it was acquiring a majority stake in United States-based optometry specialist EyeCare Partners in a USD$2.2 billion deal.

As of 18 September 2020 after closing, Partners Group is in the Swiss Market Index, its first trading day as part of the SMI being September 21. The blue-chip SMI is the most prominent stock index in Switzerland, comprising the 20 largest Swiss stocks. Partners Group was awarded Firm of the Year in Switzerland for four years in a row (2017-2020) by Private Equity international. In 2019, the firm opened its 129,400-square-foot North American headquarters in Broomfield, Colorado. In January 2020, MidRail accused Partners Group of violating a non-disclosure agreement, which allegedly impacted the bidding process for acquisition target Patriot Rail. Partners Group and MidRail mutually agreed to dismiss their claims against each other, and the case was closed in October 2023. During the same year, Partners Group entered into a major cooperation with UBS in the form of a new private markets solution for its wealth management clients, targeting an annual investment capacity of US$1–3 billion over time. In 2021, Partners Group was selected by Malaysia's Employees Provident Fund to manage a substantial portion of its US$600 million Shariah Private Equity Direct/Co-Investment Fund - the largest of its kind in the world. In September 2021, the firm announced that it had raised $15 billion for a private equity program. At the time of the announcement, $6 billion of the total had been invested to acquire stakes in 17 companies.

Partners Group led a consortium in the biggest Swiss 2022 venture capital investment in cleantech company Climeworks, the world's largest direct air capture and storage plant. Also in 2022, Partners Group invested USD 500 million in Budderfly, an energy-as-a-service company that provides energy efficient systems to businesses. The Connecticut-based energy company served 2,750 clients across the United States at the time of the investment. In November 2022, Partners Group acquired EdgeCore for $1.2 billion, a Colorado-based data center owner and operator company. In December, Partners Group announced that it was increasing its stake in the Swiss watchmaker, Breitling. It previously had a 23% stake in Breitling and would become the majority shareholder once the deal was completed. Breitling at the time was valued at USD 4.5 billion. Co-founder of Partners Group, Alfred Gantner, also became President of Breitling's directorial board. Breitling re-entered the lift of top 10 Swiss brands after it posted its 2022 revenue figures. Also in 2022, Partners Group bought U.S. heating, ventilation and air conditioning parts maker DiversiTech. In the same year, Partners Group acquired Version 1, a digital transformation company from Dublin.

On January 4, 2023, Partners Group announced that they had acquired SureWerx, a Canadian-American supplier of PPE, safety gear, and tools. They acquired SureWerx from Riverside Partners. In April, Partners Group continued its focus on decarbonisation, when it agreed to buy 7,000 credits generated by Climeworks’ direct air capture (DAC) facilities. The firm entered into a partnership with Canadian-based Bank of Montreal (BMO) to launch a private assets fund for smaller investors. The fund is aimed at Canadian retail investors as well as smaller institutional clients. In November 2023, Partners Group acquired ROSEN Group, an inspection and integrity management services provider for energy transmission pipelines, for an undisclosed amount. In December 2023, Partners Group acquired Velvet CARE, one of the leading European manufacturers of hygiene paper products.

In early 2024, Partners Group announced that it was expanding its investments in the PBSA (purpose built student accommodation) real estate sector. In May, the firm announced it was expanding its ELTIF solutions with the launch of a private equity evergreen strategy. The firm also expanded geographically during the same period, opening a new office in Hong Kong. In June of that year, it was announced PG would be acquiring a majority share in the Portuguese biotech firm, FairJourney Biologics. Prior to the deal, FairJourney had assisted drugmakers including Johnson & Johnson discover novel antibody treatments. During the same month, it also closed its fifth private equity fund above its $15 billion target.

Management
Partners Group was managed during its early history by the three co-founders, Marcel Erni, Alfred Gantner and Urs Wietlisbach. In more recent years, the founders have all remained as large shareholders and board members, but the day to day management is done by the Executive Team. In the late 90s, the three founders introduced a number of changes to boost team morale. This included a one-month paid sabbatical every five years for employees to recharge and regular hikes up Wildspitz, located close to the Partners Group's Zug office. Hikes up Wildspitz are still done today by Partners Group as part of its onboarding process for new employees. In 2021, its CEO Dave Layton received media coverage for banning the word "deal," a move which Layton believed could reduce the transactional mindset often associated with private equity. Senior management that broke the rule, would be asked to donate $1,000.

In 2023, Executive Chairman Steffen Meister documented the ongoing role reversal between private and public markets. In the white paper, Meister was quoted saying ''real value creation is rarely about big M&A transactions. Instead, it is about organic growth, platform-building, and research and development.'' Robert Collins, Co-Head of Private Wealth at Partners Group, spoke about the growing need for tailored investments for individual investors.

During the same year, Pensions & Investments magazine ran an article about Partners Group and its early adoption of generative AI and how the move was supported by senior executives.