Partners Group closes $1bn private credit mandate with Asia investor
Partners Group has closed a $1bn (£737.4m) private credit mandate with a “major” institutional investor in Asia, which includes a discretionary tranche that will be managed by the firm, as well as co-investment capital.
The open-ended evergreen structure of the mandate will enable the client to build long-term exposure to the asset class across the region, while “catering to its specific deployment requirements”, the manager said.
The mandate will invest in senior and junior direct lending opportunities in Asia Pacific, creating a diversified portfolio of “high-quality” credits spanning sectors and jurisdictions.
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Over the past year, Partners Group has closed more than five mandates with institutional investors in Asia, one of which was an €800m (£684.6m) mandate to support a regional sovereign wealth fund in building direct private equity and infrastructure exposure across markets in Asia and Europe.
Kevin Lu, chair of Asia at Partners Group, said these were examples of institutional investors in Asia looking to build private markets exposure in their home region – a trend that has been gaining momentum recently across multiple asset classes.
“Within private credit specifically, a growing number of sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies, particularly in Southeast Asia and Japan, are increasing allocations to the asset class due to the attractive risk adjusted returns currently available compared to public fixed income portfolios,” Lu added.
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“We are very pleased to close this significant new mandate, which will enable our client to build credit exposure within a dynamic region that is of increasing importance to the global economy,” said Andrew Bellis, global head of private credit at Partners Group. “The concentration of highly differentiated economies in the region also creates natural diversification benefits.”
Partners Group, which manages over $40bn in private credit assets globally, established its presence in Asia with the opening of an office in Singapore in 2004.
Since then, the firm has been designing bespoke solutions for institutional investors in the region, including investors in Greater China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and South Korea, across multiple private markets asset classes.
