- Partners Group shares temporarily fell by 18 percent on Wednesday – the decline has been 33 percent since the beginning of the year.
- Co-founder Fredy Gantner blames the US short seller Grizzly Research for the price collapse and announces criminal proceedings.
- Gantner is nevertheless confident: he recently even bought additional shares in the company.
On Wednesday, Partners Group shares temporarily fell by 18 percent. This has been recorded since the beginning of the year Swiss companies even saw a decline of 33 percent. Now Fredy Gantner, one of the three founders, speaks to the «Daily Gazette». He himself lost over a billion francs.
He explains the fall of the stock as an “attack” by shortseller Grizzly – a US company “forensic stock analysis and hedge fund managers”. Gantner also sees the global economic climate as problematic. Despite everything, he remains confident about the company.
“We have initiated criminal proceedings”
There was an “attack by the short seller Grizzly Research,” Gantner answers when asked how the stock market loss came about. The US company “attacked us with allegations that were proven to be completely unfounded. We have refuted these allegations point by point. We have initiated criminal proceedings,” says Gantner in the “Tages-Anzeiger”.
“Unfortunately, Grizzly achieved its goal in the short term with its unfair methods,” Gantner continues. “Your customers will now cover their short positions with a lot of profit.” A short position is, in a sense, a bet against a stock – or for the stock to fall. “The loss remains with understandably frightened private investors,” Gantner continued.
“Massive overreaction”
He remains convinced of his company. “I continue to hold a large block of shares and have even bought additional shares recently,” explains Gantner. The operational business is “solid”. “After a record year, we also had strong inflows of customer money in the first quarter, and the trend is very positive despite the fund redemptions in the private customer business,” says Gantner.
Why does the market still not trust the company? “This is currently an industry problem and, in my opinion, a massive overreaction,” the entrepreneur continues, adding: “The geopolitical framework doesn’t help either.” It is “obvious” that the Iran war did not go “as Trump had hoped.” This leaves “deep traces”. “Uncertainty remains high and that is having an impact on the capital markets.”
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Simon Misteli (sim), born in 1995, has been working as an editor at the news desk since 2024. He writes about a wide variety of topics with a focus on foreign stories.
