Corporate news

Partners Group, the Switzerland based alternative assets manager, has successfully closed Partners Group Secondary 2008 at its hard cap of EUR 2.5 billion. The program saw strong demand from existing and new investors and closed significantly above its target size of EUR 2.0 billion.

Capitalizing on the attractive investment opportunities available over the past quarters, the fund has selectively invested throughout the market crisis, purchasing a number of assets at prices that can with hindsight now be seen as among the historic lows. For instance, Partners Group acquired a portfolio of assets from a bank at a discount of over 70% to net asset value at the beginning of 2009. In a market with limited visibility, Partners Group's proprietary knowledge of the portfolio combined with its valuation expertise and in-depth understanding of the private market assets enabled the rapid completion of the acquisition. The transaction is expected to achieve an IRR of above 20%. A further transaction recently completed was the purchase of a group of high quality assets from a distressed vendor seeking immediate liquidity. Thanks to its broad network, Partners Group was able to negotiate this transaction on an exclusive basis and to select attractive assets out of the seller's portfolio. The assets are all in stable sectors while offering a high degree of both sector and regional diversification, and were acquired at a discount of approximately 50%. This secondary transaction is expected to achieve a multiple of 2.0x and an IRR of over 20%.

Stefan Näf, Partner and Co-Head Investment Solutions, comments "We are delighted with the successful close of Partners Group Secondary 2008 and have seen substantial demand from investors around the globe despite a generally challenging fundraising environment. We are very comfortable with the portfolio we have built for our clients and have a substantial amount of dry powder remaining to invest in the upcoming attractive secondary vintage years. Thanks to our global presence, investment expertise and integrated approach, which form a solid base for originating and valuing transactions, we are confident of being able to access highly interesting opportunities currently in the market for the benefit of the investors in the fund."

Among the limited partners participating in the program are corporate and public pension plans, insurance companies, family offices and endowments from around the world.