Partners Group reduces private equity team by dozens

Partners Group reduced its 200-person private equity team by dozens through exits and internal transfers, Benzinga reported in an Oct. 15 trade-press article citing Bloomberg and people familiar with the matter.

The changes deepen scrutiny of the $186 billion Swiss private-markets manager after it warned this year that three mature evergreen strategies could face $10 billion to $20 billion in net outflows.

The affected unit is led by Wolf-Henning Scheider, Benzinga reported, citing Bloomberg. Some employees left the firm, while others moved to businesses including infrastructure and royalties.

A Partners Group spokesperson told Bloomberg the reduction followed the firm’s performance review process. “Partners Group’s private equity team size remains consistent with its long-term average, while we have significantly strengthened our senior operational capabilities over the past year,” the firm said in a statement to Bloomberg.

“This reflects a buyout environment in which creating long-term value and driving distributions require greater operational intensity,” Partners Group said.

The pressure sits inside a wider challenge for private-markets firms that offer evergreen funds, open-ended vehicles that can accept new money and periodic redemption requests rather than locking investors into a traditional closed-end private equity fund. Partners Group earlier warned that redemptions could weigh on net asset growth for as long as 18 months, Benzinga reported.

Partners Group attributed the redemption pressure to industry concerns over evergreen fund liquidity, negative media coverage and geopolitical volatility, according to the article. The affected funds had substantial exposure to private equity vintages from 2019 through 2022, the report said.

The firm has also been reshaping products and management. Earlier this month, Partners Group disclosed plans to reorganize its Global Value SICAV private equity evergreen strategy into two portfolios, giving investors different choices between compounding returns and receiving cash from portfolio realizations.

Partners Group has hired senior staff since last year, including Tarak Megta, Nicholas Smith Wang, Jennifer Hoh and Pete Zippelius, the spokesperson told Bloomberg. The company has also named Roberto Cagnati and Juri Jenkner as co-chief executives, while former CEO David Layton remains chief investment officer.

That leadership shift followed a 39% decline in performance income, according to the Benzinga article. In its first-half earnings results, Partners Group said performance income was affected by “several sizable H2 2025 exits, that were accelerated to capture market momentum.”

Source: trade-press article, Benzinga, Oct. 15, 2026