Three Partners Group vehicles held steady in August

Three vehicles of Swiss alternative asset manager Partners Group were relatively untouched by the credit market turmoil, all increasing in net asset value by over 2 percent in August.

P3, Pearl and Princess gained in net asset value by 2.1 percent, 2.31 percent and 2.1 percent respectively. During the year P3 has risen by 14.2 percent so far this year, Pearl by over 15 percent and Princess by 9.8 percent. The three vehicles invest in private equity partnerships, listed private equity and direct investments.

Partners Group’s spokeswoman said: “The assets in these vehicles have been owned for a long period of time and so they’ve already been through the J-Curve meaning the market turbulence didn’t affect their underlying value.” The manager will issue another statement later this week on its fourth listed vehicle, she said.

P3 has been listed on the Stuttgart Stock Exchange since 2003, Princess is traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, while Pearl is registered in Guernsey.

The asset manager said in a statement the three vehicles were not directly exposed to the sub-prime crisis, although they are exposed to the credit market through mezzanine investments in its special situations allocation and through certain direct mezzanine loans. These have been largely unaffected by the problems in the credit markets so far.

Stephan Schäli, head of Private Equity Investment Management at Partners Group, said in a statement the probable availability of less leverage at a higher cost over the coming months meant acquisition multiples should decrease in the mid term resulting in attractive investment opportunities.