For months now, the spotlight in the world of private capital has been on private credit, where redemption pressures and investor withdrawals have tested the resilience of the asset class. Signs are now emerging that those concerns are spilling over into another corner of private markets.
Swiss firm Partners Group—one of the pioneers of evergreen funds—caused a flutter in the industry mid-week by capping withdrawals from its $8.6 billion Global Value SICAV evergreen private equity fund after redemption requests surged.
The move triggered the biggest-ever selloff in the Zurich-listed shares of the company and raised uncomfortable questions: Are investors now heading for redemptions in private equity too? And is this no longer just a private credit story?
On Thursday, Partners Group said it would gate an even bigger US fund that has also seen withdrawals accelerate, driven by valuation fears.
The firm said there is noticeable increase in redemption requests from private wealth clients across the group’s entire portfolio of evergreen funds, which are basically open-ended investment vehicles that allow investors to withdraw part of their capital on a quarterly basis instead of being locked in for a longer duration.
Some redemption requests are from clients worried about valuations, others simply believe they can earn better returns elsewhere. Either way, the incident is a sign that private wealth is far more sensitive to market turbulence than institutional capital, and the industry is paying close attention to what happens next.
Here are some other headlines that dominated the week gone by:
LP-GP news
Top executives from Brookfield Private Equity spoke to us this week providing insights into the firm’s new financing playbook for Asia. The company has now secured two covenant-light Term Loan Bs in the region’s leveraged finance market, marking the start of Brookfield employing this approach in Asia
Stellaris Venture Partners is moving beyond its traditional focus on sectors such as SaaS, financial services, consumer brands, ecommerce, education, EVs and healthcare, betting instead on globally ambitious startups and AI. Nearly half of the companies backed through the firm’s $300 million Fund III, which closed in 2024, are targeting international markets, while seven of its 13 investments to date are in AI applications, the firm’s partner Ritesh Banglani said in an interview.
French asset manager and PE firm Eurazeo is scouting for investment opportunities across Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam where the government has rolled out policies aimed at supporting innovation, technology development and capital market reforms.
New York-based Hunter Point Capital says it is bullish on China, pointing to the rapid emergence of new GPs. “One of the things that is amazing about China is the number of GPs who are managing over a billion dollars, and you may never have heard of them a few years ago,” said Avi Kalichstein, the firm’s CEO and co-founder in an interview. Asia has become increasingly important for the firm, with Singapore being another area of activity, with a number of managers continuing to grow there.
Emmanuel Deblanc, CIO, Private Markets at M&G Investments said in an interview that institutional investors in the Asia Pacific are increasingly allocating more to European strategies, rebalancing away from US exposure. Deblanc also noted that Asian investor demand for M&G’s European credit strategies has been rising.
Vietnamese education platform EQuest has secured an inaugural offshore syndicated loan of $115.5 million provided primarily by Taiwanese banks. It is understood that about half of the proceeds will be used to refinance EQuest’s previous debt, which was raised several years ago, while the remainder will support the expansion of its education network.
Blackstone has raised $13.1 billion for its Asia private equity fund, exceeding its initial target and marking its largest such fundraise in the region. The fundraising is a sign of strong investor interest in Asia despite the Iran crisis, and comes a month after EQT raised $15.6 billion to create the region’s largest private equity fund.
Global healthcare investment firm OrbiMed has raised $534 million so far for its sixth Asia-focused healthcare private equity fund, which is targeting to raise $850 million. OrbiMed invests primarily in China and India, backing companies from venture capital through the growth stage across biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics, and healthcare services.
Analysis
Sea Ltd’s gaming arm Garena has made at least two publicly disclosed investments this year, in the AI-driven gaming and interactive content startups Astrocade and Yongyue Intelligence, marking a return to a more active investment posture after the company’s gaming bets thinned out between 2023 and 2025. The nature of the new bets suggests the company is looking beyond the traditional blockbuster-title model that has long defined its gaming business, especially through Free Fire. AI tools could lower production costs, shorten development timelines, and make it easier to generate more content around existing communities, my colleague Katrina Bianca Cuaresma wrote in an analysis.
Startups, funding and corporate news
Amperesand, a US- and Singapore-based startup providing power grid infrastructure solutions, has secured $30 million through a fresh share issuance. Investors include N47 Services, Xora Innovation, Temasek, which invested through Robson Investments, TDK Ventures, Industry Ventures, and Walden Catalyst Ventures.
Indonesian digital asset platform FLOQ has raised $11.3 million in its first external funding round, as the company looks to expand its product suite and strengthen its infrastructure amid an evolving regulatory environment.
Indonesian agritech startup AgriAku has secured $4-6 million in funding through a convertible note round led by Redbadge Pacific, the APAC arm of US-based Redbadge. Founder Irvan Kolonas is understood to have participated in his personal capacity.
Singapore’s Foundation Healthcare, a multi-specialty healthcare group backed by Temasek’s investment arm SeaTown Holdings, has recorded secondary share transfers, which led to the exit of two minority shareholders.
Prosecutors in Jakarta have detained the beneficial owner of FMCG distributor RMS in a probe connected to allegations of irregular loan disbursement by Bank Rakyat Indonesia via the fintech platform KoinWorks. The owner has been named as a suspect in the case involving around $33.2 million in loans disbursed through KoinWorks.
Velox Digital Singapore, the operator of GoTo’s ride-hailing services in the city-state, has swung to a profit for the financial year ended December 2025, show regulatory filings accessed by DealStreetAsia.
In a market suddenly obsessed with redemptions, stay invested until next week!
