For CEO Steffen Meister, the partnership approach means fairness, transparency and longevity in all respects: “The sizable participation in the company’s business success by both the management team and workforce guarantees ongoing entrepreneurial activity and spells independence as well as continuity for the Partners Group.” With 2.4 billion euros in newly entrusted client funds in the first half of 2012 as well as a projected 4–5 billion euros for the entire year, it also means success for all involved. CEO Meister sees the cause of this success as further explainable by an organic consolidation of the industry, through which a few companies—like his—win significantly more investor confidence.
According to Meister, private market investment managers also found themselves “in the luxurious position of being able to make investments that can generate a surplus return because of their characteristics with regard to longevity, the potential for operational improvement, and informational advantage relative to traditional capital markets investments.”
Ultimately, however, it wasn’t favorable but unfavorable circumstances that helped the Partners Group toward success. “As a result of the crisis years of 1998, 2001 and 2007/08, the idea of establishing an investment business that was robust, attractive and independent of cycles became our primary goal,” the mathematics major continued. For the investors, that was interesting; for the Partners Group, it was business-critical. Today the company pursues an integrated investment approach and provides its clients with unlimited access to the private market.
Aside from the team’s many years of experience, Meister considers “social skills” like social intelligence and intuition to be as important as “hard skills.” According to Meister, the development of co-workers ranks high in importance at Partners Group: “Our clear objective is that our co-workers should also ‘grow’ as people here and that they can continue to make strong personal progress.”
Along with his motivational, direct and uncomplicated leadership style, he also wants to be a reliable partner to his co-workers in the next ten years. “As part of what will probably be an even bigger Partners Group family—but until then, hopefully, I’ll have more free time,” jokes Meister. Because outside of work, the investment pro’s favorite thing is to spend time with his wife and three sons.