
Partners Group holds €1.5bn first close for direct investment fund
Switzerland-based private equity firm Partners Group has held a first close on €1.5bn for its fourth direct investment vehicle, Partners Group Direct Investments 2016.
Launched last year, the fund is targeting €2bn in commitments, according to several reports. The fund's previous generation, Partners Group Direct Investments 2012, was closed on its €1.5bn hard-cap in 2014.
Partners Group claims €54.2bn of assets under management at present, with more than half being part of its private equity portfolio. Other Partners Group branches include real estate and private infrastructure.
The GP recently closed two major investments: acquiring Foncia Group, one of France's largest real estate groups, from Eurazeo and Bridgepoint in June 2016 for €1.8bn; and French pharmaceutical group Cerba HealthCare for €1.85bn from PAI Partners alongside Canadian pension fund Public Sector Pensions Investments in January 2017.
Investors
Investors in the programme include a mix of new and existing institutional investors such as public and corporate pension plans, endowments, foundations, insurance companies and financial institutions.
Investors in previous generations of the fund have included the Gwynedd Pension Fund, the London Borough of Bexley Pension Fund, and the Nest Sammelstiftung endowment in Switzerland.
Investments
As with its predecessors, Partners Group Direct Investments 2016 will target companies across a range of geographies and sectors in the mid-market – a segment "home to the best opportunities for finding reasonably priced assets", according to the investor. The GP believes the mid-market offers the most scope for value creation compared with the large-cap market, unquote’’ reported upon the close of Partners Group Direct Investment 2012.
People
Partners Group – Staphan Schali (partner, head of private equity).
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