Private equity fund Partners Group of Switzerland is opening an office in Manila to serve clients across the globe and create a climate for private equity investment in the Philippines.
Partners Group director Grace del Rosario-Castano said the company was banking on the pronouncements of President Rodrigo Duterte to reduce if not eliminate the legislations that hinder foreign investments.
“Private equity investment and management in the Philippines is still in its infancy stage. We have the assurance of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas that measures are stepping up to accommodate foreign investments like the law on equity ownership,” she said.
Partners Group plans to invest in medium-scale projects in infrastructure, such as bridges and airports, hospitals, retail and accounting.
The company invests in privately-held companies to manage their direction.
“We want to have the controlling share and for now it is not allowed in the Philippines, in some sectors. If we buy publicly-listed firms, our hold of the management is weak. Financials will be superficial and we will not get the entire picture. It will be difficult for us to grow the company and sell it for a healthy return,” co-CEO Christoph Rubeli said.
The company is interested in buying medium to big companies worth between $200 million and $2 billion in favor of weak and start-up companies.
Partners Group is is big player in private equity management. Its assets under management or total market value of assets are estimated $50 billion. Acquisition costs in 2015 reached $9.7 billion that may increase to $10 billion to 12 billion in 2016.
Emerging economies have at least a 23 percent share of total AUM with Asia having the biggest portion.
Partners Group has more than 850 investors worldwide and hopes to bring some of them to the Philippines.
While it is cultivating the climate for investing in the Philippines, it will offer services to clients ranging from information technology to treasury, marketing, finance, accounting and real estate support.
The company ploans to expand the Manila office and make be one of the five biggest globally.
Manila is the 20th office the company established since 1996. It has offices in San Francisco, Denver, Houston, New York, São Paulo, London, Guernsey, Paris, Luxembourg, Milan, Munich, Dubai, Mumbai, Singapore, Shanghai, Seoul, Tokyo and Sydney, on top of the Zug office in Switzerland.