Urs Wietlisbach on Building a USD 185B Private Markets Firm

In this episode, GloryHouse Wealth Management Managing Director speaks with Urs Wietlisbach, Co-Founder of Partners Group, for an in-depth conversation on private markets, long-term capital, asset allocation, and wealth management for entrepreneurs.

Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, Partners Group is one of the world’s leading private markets investment managers, with expertise across private equity, private debt, infrastructure, real estate, and royalties. As of early 2026, Partners Group managed approximately USD 185 billion in assets.

Urs reflects on the early journey of Partners Group — from three founders leaving Goldman Sachs to establish an independent asset management firm, to building a global investment platform with more than 2,000 employees today. He shares how the firm has continued to innovate through differentiated thinking, including the early development of capital-protected private equity products, evergreen fund structures, customised institutional accounts, and a publicly listed company structure.

The conversation also explores asset resilience and risk management in today’s market environment. Urs discusses the role of private markets in long-term asset allocation, with particular focus on non-correlated asset classes such as insurance finance, litigation finance, and royalties, and how they may perform through periods of market volatility, changing interest rates, and inflation.

In the face of structural change driven by artificial intelligence, Urs encourages investors to recognise AI’s long-term impact on corporate competitiveness while remaining mindful of potential valuation bubbles in public markets. He emphasises that, for first-generation entrepreneurs and high-net-worth families, long-term wealth management is not only about growth, but also about building a genuinely diversified and resilient portfolio that can endure across market cycles.

About the Guest

About the Guest

Urs Wietlisbach is a Co-Founder of Partners Group. Prior to establishing the firm, he worked at Goldman Sachs, before co-founding Partners Group with a vision to build an independent private markets investment platform.

As an entrepreneur, investor and long-standing private markets leader, Urs has played an important role in Partners Group’s growth from its early beginnings into a global investment firm.

About Partners Group

Partners Group is a leading global private markets investment manager, with capabilities across private equity, private debt, infrastructure, real estate and other private market strategies. The firm provides long-term, actively managed private markets solutions to institutional and private wealth clients globally.

About the GloryHouse Podcast

GloryHouse Wealth Management produces the GloryHouse Podcast for high-net-worth families, business owners and globally connected families. The series explores wealth management, asset allocation, family succession, next-generation education and global investment through in-depth conversations with investment professionals, industry experts, legal advisers and tax specialists.

Through the series, GloryHouse Wealth Management offers practical insights, global perspectives and long-term thinking to support informed wealth decisions across generations.