Key figures
Message from the Chairman and the Co-CEOs
In the first half of 2020, the world had to adapt as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded and government-enforced lockdowns followed. At Partners Group, we made safeguarding the health of our employees and our portfolio company employees our immediate priority. As the pandemic took hold, we were successful in protecting our colleagues from the initial spread of the virus with minimal disruption to business continuity. For those portfolio assets that provide essential manufacturing or services, we launched a sourcing initiative for personal protection equipment via our global network to enable employees to work safely.
As we look back on a challenging H1 2020, and plan for continued challenges in the second half of the year, we are confident of the resilience of the business we have built. We remain steadfast in our commitment to generating long-term value and positive outcomes for all our stakeholders and thankful for your trust in our firm.
Message from the Chairman and the Co-CEOs
H1 2020 at a glance
Investments
During H1 2020, we invested a total of USD 4.3 billion on behalf of our clients across all private markets asset classes, with a significant proportion of these investments undertaken in the earlier part of Q1. Following the COVID-19 unfolding, we focused on safeguarding the health of our portfolio companies' employees and initiated personal protection equipment sourcing initiatives for those portfolio assets that required the equipment to operate safely.
Furthermore, we shared best practices and successfully implemented COVID-19 action plans across our portfolio to maintain and drive performance by allocating leadership, operational and financial resources to ensure business continuity and preserve liquidity. As a multi-asset investor, we were well-positioned to offer guidance on topics such as debt capital structuring or real estate capital expenditure.
InvestmentsClients
Despite an uncertain short-term outlook, we expect long-term prospects for private markets investing, and for Partners Group in particular, to remain strong. The structural growth drivers continue to be the growth of institutional assets under management, the rising allocations of institutional investors to private markets and the outperformance of private markets against public markets. Moreover, we observe a concentration of private markets allocations with those managers that have the capacity and ability to onboard sizeable commitments and deploy larger amounts of capital.
In H1 2020, we saw continued strong client demand across all private markets asset classes despite COVID-19 and received USD 8.3 billion in new commitments. This demand for programs and mandates brings total AuM to USD 96.3 billion as of 30 June 2020.
ClientsFinancials
The continuation of strong client demand amidst somewhat lower investment activities in H1 2020 resulted in an increase in management fees of 3%. However, performance fees decreased by 57% compared to H1 2019 as we postponed several divestments which had been tabled for H1 2020 due to the weak exit environment. Consequently, total revenues decreased by 9% to CHF 623 million during the period.
The EBIT margin remained stable and stands at 63%, confirming our disciplined approach to cost management. Total EBIT decreased by 10% to CHF 390 million, mainly due to lower performance fees during the period. Profit decreased by 21% year-on-year to CHF 313 million, driven by the negative (unrealized) valuation adjustments of our private market investments alongside clients due to COVID-19.
Financial Report Financial Statements