OREANDA-NEWS. Partners Group, the global private markets investment manager, received EUR 4.6 billion in new commitments from its global client base across all private markets asset classes in H1 2016. This demand for programs and mandates brings total assets under management (AuM) to EUR 49.1 billion as of 30 June 2016 (31 December 2015: EUR 46.0 billion) and represents a net annualized growth of 13%.

Full-year guidance for new client commitments narrowed to the upper end
Based on strong client demand and a continued solid pipeline of investment opportunities, Partners Group has narrowed its guidance for the anticipated bandwidth of gross client commitments for the full-year 2016 to EUR 8-9 billion (2015: EUR 6-8 billion). This constitutes the upper end of the previous full-year 2016 guidance of EUR 7-9 billion. The firm's full-year estimates of tail-down effects from the more mature Partners Group programs and potential redemptions from liquid and semi-liquid programs have not changed and amount to EUR -2.5 to -3.5 billion (2015: EUR -2 to -3 billion).

USD 4.9 billion invested across the entire platform in H1 2016

In H1 2016, Partners Group continued to successfully increase its investment activities across the entire private markets spectrum and again led a significant number of transactions. With a continued focus on attractive corporate, real estate and infrastructure assets, Partners Group invested a total of USD 4.9 billion on behalf of its clients during the period. A total of USD 2.7 billion (55% of total investment volume) was deployed in direct transactions, of which USD 1.6 billion was invested in 17 individual assets across private equity, private real estate and private infrastructure and USD 1.2 billion was invested in 18 corporate credits. The firm's secondaries investment teams invested a total of USD 1.2 billion (23% of total investment volume) in globally diversified private markets portfolios. To complement its direct and secondary investments, the firm committed USD 1.1 billion (22% of total investment volume) to select private markets managers.

Limited impact from 'Brexit' expected
The outcome of the recent UK referendum, in which the British public voted in favor of exiting the European Union, has created political and economic uncertainty. However, Partners Group expects the overall impact on its business to be limited. As far as clients are concerned, 24% of total AuM is represented by UK clients, of which the majority is pension funds. The firm expects these investors to continue to see the benefits of private markets and as such continue to invest in global private markets asset classes. With regards to investments, about 6% of the firm's total AuM is exposed to UK assets, of which less than 2% is invested in real estate. Partners Group believes real estate is likely to be the asset class most adversely affected by Brexit, as demand for residential and commercial real estate may suffer, weighing on capital appreciation and rental incomes. From a corporate perspective, only about 3% of total AuM is GBP-denominated and therefore the weakening of the GBP is not expected to have a significant effect on the firm's revenue contribution in CHF.

AuM development in H1 2016

Next to gross client demand of EUR 4.6 billion in H1 2016, there were approximately EUR -1.0 billion in tail-down effects from mature private markets investment programs and EUR -0.3 billion in redemptions from liquid and semi-liquid vehicles, amounting to a total of EUR -1.4 billion in H1 2016. Foreign exchange effects amounted to EUR -0.5 billion in H1 2016. A positive contribution of EUR +0.4 billion stemmed mainly from performance-related effects from certain investment vehicles. As a result, the overall net effect amounted to EUR -1.5 billion.

The breakdown of total AuM as of 30 June 2016 is as follows: EUR 29 billion private equity, EUR 8 billion private real estate, EUR 6 billion private debt and EUR 6 billion private infrastructure.

High level of selectivity key to identifying assets with stable valuations
Due to its global platform of over 850 employees, extensive industry network and pro-active sourcing efforts, Partners Group was able to maintain its focus on investment selectivity in H1 2016. The firm screened 1'956 direct transactions across all asset classes, investing in only 35 of them and registering a decline rate of 98%. Partners Group's secondary investment specialists screened USD 65 billion in private markets assets and invested in less than 2% of these.

Christoph Rubeli, Partner and Co-Chief Executive Officer, comments: "As prices remain elevated across private markets, selectivity and a focus on quality remain key. In the current environment, we place increased emphasis on the stability of valuations in the companies we are evaluating for private equity and private debt investments. In infrastructure, we look for situations where we can compete on the basis of superior value creation rather than higher asset prices. In real estate, we look for robust properties that stand to benefit from shifts in demand in local, regional and global property markets."

Strong underlying demand for private markets solutions despite political and economic uncertainties

Andre Frei, Partner and Co-Chief Executive Officer, adds: "The UK's referendum on Brexit has re-confirmed the need to not only look for the best value creation opportunities globally, but also to take a well-diversified approach to structuring private market portfolios on behalf of our clients. We believe the characteristics of private markets remain attractive to investors, especially in these times of political and macro uncertainty, as well as significant volatility in global markets. Investors continue to seek investment managers with a truly global set-up that are able to create value throughout economic cycles. This is shown by our client demand in H1 2016, which was again well-diversified across asset classes and regions, as well as size and type of clients."