Partners Group plans Global Value fee cuts ahead of restructuring vote

Partners Group Holding AG plans to cut management fees on its €6.6 billion Global Value SICAV as it seeks investor approval to restructure the fund. Investors in a distributing fund would get at least 25 basis points less for three years, and management fees in a compounding fund would fall by as much as 75 basis points until January 1, 2030, according to an investor presentation seen by Bloomberg.

Earlier this month the Swiss private markets firm laid out a plan to turn Global Value into an umbrella structure holding two portfolios. One is a distributing fund of older, lower-performing assets; the other is a compounding entity pitched at potentially higher returns over time. Investors vote on the change next month.

"Existing investors will benefit from reduced management fees in the distributing fund and, upon conversion, on their converted holdings in the compounding fund," Partners Group said in the presentation, dated this month. New capital committed to the compounding fund also gets the reduced management fee.

The fee reductions come after a stretch in which Partners has been forced to limit withdrawals from Global Value and some of its other funds. For years the firm marketed those vehicles to investors on the option of periodic liquidity. The same presentation shows the firm lowering the redemption threshold for some investors, according to Bloomberg. The firm's shares have fallen almost 40% this year.

Partners Group reported 905 million Swiss francs ($1.1 billion) of management income for the first half, up 6% from a year earlier, it said in September. Management fees on evergreen vehicles are the recurring part of that number.

"The proposed fee reduction on this product is an improvement, though fees here start from a high base," said Mara Dobrescu, a senior principal, according to Bloomberg.