Key Fund Caps & Data Points:
- Blackstone ($BX.N): Capped withdrawals at its $79 billion flagship Private Credit Fund (BCRED) after Q2 redemption requests jumped to 10% of shares (up from 7.9% in Q1). It strictly limited withdrawals to the customary 5% cap, choosing not to inject internal capital to fully meet requests like it did last quarter.
- Partners Group ($PGHN.S): Capped a $8.6 billion private equity fund (Global Value SICAV) after redemption requests hit 9.8%. Sources state it is now expected to cap a second major pool—a $16 billion Delaware-based fund—where requests hit 6%, exceeding its 5% quarterly limit.
- Other Funds: Partners Group estimates three other mature evergreen funds totaling $9.7 billion are seeing redemptions between 3.5% and 5%. Meanwhile, competitor Cliffwater saw Q2 withdrawal requests at its $31.3 billion fund worsen to 17% (up from 14% in Q1).
Market Impact & Stock Movements:
- The Contagion Effect: Stresses that began in late 2025 within the private credit sector (spurred by scrutiny over asset valuations, lending standards, and tech-portfolio exposure to AI challenges) are officially bleeding into private equity evergreen funds.
- Stock Rebound: Partners Group shares plummeted 16% to a six-year low on Wednesday, dragging down European peers (EQT, CVC, Bridgepoint) and U.S. giants (Blackstone, KKR, TPG, Ares). Shares partially recovered on Thursday (Blackstone jumped 7%) after Partners Group projected strong gross new client demand of $26 billion to $32 billion for 2026.
Structural Criticism:
- Market experts warn that “evergreen” (open-ended) structures—which offer periodic redemption windows to retail investors—are a difficult promise to fulfill because private market assets are inherently illiquid. Many funds diversified into these structures simply to expand their investor base during eras of easy money.