Partners Group caps redemptions as private-market liquidity fears trigger sector-wide selloff

Partners Group, the Swiss private equity firm managing over $185 billion in assets, took the unusual step of capping redemptions at its flagship Partners Group Global Value SICAV evergreen fund on June 3, 2026. The move came after redemption requests surged to an estimated 9.8% to 10% of the fund’s net asset value during the second quarter, roughly double the fund’s standard quarterly redemption gate of 5%.

The market’s reaction was immediate and brutal. Partners Group shares plunged between 13% and 18% on the day, hitting multi-year lows. The damage wasn’t contained to one stock: EQT shares dropped over 6%, and peers including CVC Capital Partners, KKR, and Bridgepoint all saw notable declines.

The last time the firm imposed this kind of liquidity restriction was during the COVID-19 pandemic. The catalyst for the rush to the exits traces back to growing anxiety in private credit markets. Default fears have been climbing, with concerns that default rates could potentially double from historical levels of roughly 2.6%. Software loans, in particular, have become a focal point for investor worry.

Partners Group emphasized that its private credit evergreen funds represent less than 3% of its $185 billion in AUM. Those credit-focused funds, the company noted, haven’t experienced any net redemptions in either 2025 or 2026.

A structural problem years in the making

The private equity industry has been dealing with a sustained liquidity crunch since mid-2022. Higher interest rates made deal-making harder, slowed exits, and left investors sitting on positions longer than expected.

Full-year distribution expectations for the Global Value SICAV fund sit at around 15%, but that figure looks aspirational when redemption demand is running at nearly 10% in a single quarter.

Partners Group raised $30 billion in 2025, a robust fundraising year by any measure. But fundraising momentum and redemption pressure can coexist, and the optics of gating your flagship retail-facing product aren’t exactly confidence-inspiring.

What this means for investors

The spillover into shares of EQT, CVC, KKR, and Bridgepoint suggests the market is pricing this as a sector-wide concern rather than an idiosyncratic Partners Group problem. If redemption pressures continue building across the industry, other firms operating similar evergreen vehicles could face their own gating decisions.

Private credit default fears remain the background radiation driving the whole narrative. If default rates do climb meaningfully from historical norms of roughly 2.6%, the redemption pressures hitting private equity evergreen funds today could look mild compared to what private credit vehicles might face.

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