Partners Group to launch new funds in 2026

Partners Group will launch a special opportunities fund and an infrastructure secondaries fund in 2026. The Swiss investment firm, with $185 billion in assets under management, is positioning itself to benefit from market disruptions from Middle East conflicts, liquidity pressures at rival private credit funds, and doubts over AI software valuations.

President Juri Jenkner outlined the strategy in a recent interview with The Korea Economic Daily. He said the special opportunities fund will sit between private equity and private credit on the risk-return spectrum. It will provide tailored capital solutions to companies seeking alternatives to traditional financing.

"In a market environment where you have a lot of transformation and disruption in industries, you have a huge refinancing need in the credit market that cannot be met by traditional capital sources," Jenkner said. He forecast the special opportunities market could grow into the hundreds of billions of dollars. The firm did not disclose the target size for its new fund.

A Less Crowded Field

Jenkner described the current private market environment as a winner-takes-all scenario. He said it offers less competition and more attractive valuations. Capital raising has become increasingly concentrated. Overall private market fundraising has declined from 2019 levels.

Although there are about 11,000 general partners globally, the top 1% accounted for 80% of total fundraising over the past one to two years. "We think it’s a very attractive market environment and we’re glad that we can really capture this opportunity," Jenkner stated.

Expanding Royalties and Secondaries

Partners Group has been expanding its royalties portfolio as an alternative income source. The firm now oversees more than $1 billion in assets across its royalty business. Its cross-sector royalty fund is in its 7th year. It delivered a last-twelve-month net return of 11.7% as of the end of 2025.

Jenkner said the royalty business aims to expand to $30 billion by 2033. The portfolio includes over 500 titles and 100,000 underlying royalty streams. These span life sciences, pharmaceuticals, energy transition, and entertainment.

The entertainment holdings include music from Warner Bros. film and TV catalogues like Harry Potter and Game of Thrones, plus works by The Weeknd. As of April 29, The Weeknd's most-streamed track, “Blinding Lights,” had 5.4 billion streams on Spotify. Taylor Swift's “Cruel Summer” had 3.3 billion streams.

"We have a Partners Group playlist," Jenkner said. "The playlist of songs whose royalties Partners Group owns runs seven hours and 28 minutes."

On secondaries, the firm is set to close an infrastructure secondary program in the second quarter of this year, targeting at least $3 billion. The program has already invested in 16 investments with exposure to more than 150 underlying assets. It has generated a current gross total value-to-paid-in capital multiple of 1.3 times. The firm's $36 billion infrastructure platform has delivered an average net internal rate of return of 21% since inception.

Portfolio and Regional Focus

The firm is relatively insulated from credit fund squeezes linked to software companies. Jenkner said its current software exposure is below 10%. The broader private equity industry has exposure of 25% to 30%. Of its 30 evergreen funds, about 10% are credit-focused and 90% are equity-focused.

India is a key growth driver. Partners Group has invested $2.5 billion in India across 11 assets. These have an IRR of over 38% and a distributed to paid-in capital multiple of 3.4x. Last year, the firm acquired a significant majority stake in Infinity Fincorp Solutions for $230 million. The firm is pursuing controlling stakes in India, a market traditionally focused on minority investments.