In a global financial landscape marked by persistent economic uncertainty and a noticeable tightening of traditional capital markets, a significant opportunity has emerged for specialized investors capable of providing flexible, unconventional financing solutions. Recognizing this shift, global private markets specialist Partners Group has formally introduced a new, dedicated investment strategy designed to capitalize on these unique market dynamics. This standalone program, focused on special opportunities, will be woven into the firm’s extensive multi-strategy platform, which already spans private equity, infrastructure, private credit, and real estate, positioning it to address complex financing needs that fall outside the purview of conventional lenders and investors. The initiative is a direct response to a growing volume of transactions that require more agile and tailored capital structures to unlock value and navigate a challenging economic environment.
Strategic Framework and Leadership
The core mission of the new initiative is to deploy flexible capital in situations where traditional financing is either unavailable or unsuitable, focusing intently on three primary types of transactions. First, the strategy will offer structured liquidity solutions to founder-led companies and other growth-oriented businesses that need capital to scale but wish to avoid the dilutive effects of standard equity raises. Second, it will target investments in highly attractive assets that are currently encumbered by constrained or overleveraged balance sheets, providing the necessary capital to stabilize and reposition them for future growth. Finally, the program will provide comprehensive liquidity solutions for compelling opportunities where conventional debt and equity markets are closed off, acting as a crucial funding partner in dislocated markets. This multi-pronged approach allows the strategy to remain agile and address a wide spectrum of complex financial situations across various industries and geographies.
To spearhead this critical new venture, Partners Group has appointed Joshua Hartz, a seasoned dealmaker with nearly two decades of high-level investment experience, most notably from his tenure at Bain Capital. Hartz will operate from the firm’s offices in both Sydney and Zug, Switzerland, reflecting the global mandate of the special opportunities strategy. The new division is intentionally designed not to operate in a silo; instead, it will harness the full spectrum of Partners Group’s extensive in-house expertise. This synergistic model involves leveraging the firm’s deep private equity team for industry research and operational insights, its sophisticated private credit team for rigorous due diligence and financing analysis, and its specialized royalties team for crafting innovative alternative financing structures. This integrated approach ensures that each investment is thoroughly vetted and structured using a combination of diverse skill sets, maximizing the potential for success in complex scenarios.
Market Rationale and Investor Proposition
The firm’s decision to launch this strategy is underpinned by a strong conviction that an impending economic transformation is creating fertile ground for such investments. This transformation is being accelerated by a confluence of powerful macroeconomic forces, including persistent uncertainty, the rapid pace of technological disruption, and projections of slower global GDP growth. Compounding these factors are elevated inflation levels and the looming challenge of significant debt maturity walls, which are expected to place considerable strain on corporate balance sheets in the coming years. Partners Group anticipates that these combined pressures will substantially increase the number of businesses and assets needing the kind of bespoke, flexible private capital that the special opportunities program is specifically designed to provide, filling a critical gap left by the retrenchment of traditional capital providers.
From an investor’s standpoint, the special opportunities program was meticulously designed to occupy a unique and attractive position within the risk-return spectrum, offering a distinct set of characteristics for client portfolios. The strategy’s primary objective is to generate asymmetric upside potential, allowing investors to participate significantly in the value creation of successful turnarounds and growth stories, while concurrently incorporating robust downside protection through careful structuring and collateralization. Furthermore, these investments are projected to have a shorter duration compared to traditional private equity, providing a quicker return of capital. The overarching goal of the strategy has always been to forge collaborative partnerships with founders, management teams, and other stakeholders, working together to drive transformational growth and unlock substantial value within companies navigating an increasingly complex and demanding economic landscape.
