Swiss investment firm studying options in PH

SWITZERLAND-BASED Partners Group, one of the world’s largest private markets investment managers, is scouting for investment opportunities in Philippine infrastructure and medium-sized private companies.

Partners Group has also put up in the Philippines its latest services hub for global operations.

The hub at the Net Park building in BGC—which will open in September—is envisioned to become one of the group’s largest in the world. The group expects to start with 20 employees by the end of this year, eventually increasing the number to 100-150 by 2020.

Partners Group is also keen on investing in Philippine private assets. Globally, the group has $50 billion in assets under management (AUM), making it the third largest private market investment company in the world.

Christoph Rubeli, Partners Group co-CEO, said in a briefing last week that the group had started looking for investment opportunities in the country four years ago, particularly in the retail, hospital, logistics and shipping space.  Although none of these discussions has materialized, Rubeli said he was hoping to close the first deal in the country in the next year or two.

The bulk of Partner Group’s business globally is in private equity. It buys healthy privately-held medium-sized companies, takes management control, expands them and then sells them at a much higher value. The investment horizon averages  four to six years.  “Medium-sized” investee companies are defined as those with enterprise valuation of between $200 million and $2 billion.

Partner Group also invests in private infrastructure, private real estate and private debt.

Rubeli said the group would be interested in investing in Philippine infrastructure, noting that the public-private partnership (PPP) had been “well-established” in this market. Elsewhere in the world, he said the group was active in renewable energy, adding that it would be interested in wind and solar energy projects in the country.

Meanwhile, the opening of the Philippine services hub marks an expansion of Partner Group’s footprint in Asia. It opened its first Asian office in Singapore in 2004, followed by Tokyo in 2007, and Sydney and Seoul in 2008. Today, the firm also has offices in Shanghai and Mumbai and employs more than 250 people in Asia Pacific.

“We considered several locations before deciding on the Philippines as the most suitable place for the hub. Manila has developed into a thriving global business hub in recent years and we felt this dynamism offered a great cultural fit for Partners Group and the opportunity to deepen our networks in Asia,” Rubeli said.

Grace del Rosario-Castaño, a Filipino executive who sits on Partners Group’s board, said: “One of Partners Group’s key strengths as a private markets investment manager is the full suite of market-leading client services that we offer to our investors.”