In October, the broader equity market developed negatively and displayed an increased volatility. The market reacted anxiously to the ongoing tension between the US and China on trades, as well as for geopolitical uncertainties in Italy and “Brexit”. Likewise, Partners Group Listed Investments SICAV – Listed Private Equity suffered among this market trend and lost a part of its annual gains. US alternative asset manager contributed negatively to the fund’s performance in the reporting month. Investors were concerned about lower performance-related fees due to turbulence in the financial markets and realized a part of their profits. Regardless, alternative asset managers convinced with their published quarterly reports. For example, Blackstone continued to profit from high net-inflows and increased its assets under management by 18% and the
quarterly profit by 12% compared to the same quarter last year. KKR also published favorable results for the third quarter. The company closed an infrastructure fund with USD 7.4 billion of capital commitments, increased their unrealized performance fees by 5% and reached an increase of 22% of their distributable earnings per share compared to the last quarter. The market corrections affected the share prices of the direct investment companies negatively as well. Wendel, a France-based firm, reduced its stake in its largest portfolio company Bureau Veritas on the back of positive results. The proceeds of the sell are planned to be used for new investments, considering the recent price-decline in the market. Furthermore, individual companies used the market corrections to buy back their own shares. As an example, the Danish investment company Schouw acquired own shares as part of their approved share redemption program.
