Partners Group is prepared to restrict investor withdrawals across more of its funds, the Swiss private markets giant said Thursday, after capping redemptions in one of its European vehicles following a surge in exit requests.

The Zurich-listed fund manager warned that the spike in client withdrawals that upended private credit markets this year now appears to be spilling over into the private equity space.

On Wednesday, Partners Group said it was halting withdrawals from its Global Value SICAV vehicle at 5%, after redemption requests hit 9.8%.

It warned that another one of its funds — a Delaware-domiciled U.S. private equity vehicle — is also set to face redemption requests of about 6% of net asset value in the second quarter. Three other evergreen funds, whose assets together total approximately $9.7 billion, are also likely to experience second-quarter redemptions of 3.5%-5%, Partners Group said.

Partners Group AG.

In a statement, Partners Group acknowledged heightened volatility across open-ended so-called "evergreen" funds, adding that it would impose 5% liquidity limits in such vehicles if withdrawal requests exceed that threshold.

The rush for the exits by investors is reigniting anxiety over pressures in the global private markets industry.

"Liquidity features are designed to protect long-term investors, and to ensure that returns continue to be driven by the quality of the underlying private assets rather than by short-term flow dynamics," CEO David Layton said.

He said Partners Group's portfolio companies offer "substantial upside potential," adding that, since inception, its main funds have returned more than five times initial investments for clients.

Partners Group said that about 80% of its $185 billion in assets under management are from longer-term institutional investors, with 20% from private wealth investors.

Shares in Zurich-listed Partners Group plummeted more than 16% on Wednesday, while shares in U.S. private markets mainstays, including KKR, Blackstone and Ares, also finished lower on Wednesday.

Partners Group was trading 3.6% higher in morning trade on Thursday.

Tony Dalwood, CEO of Gresham House, told CNBC's "Europe Early Edition" that the Partners Group developments highlight the importance of matching investors with funds whose underlying assets have the appropriate liquidity and duration profiles.

Retail and wealth clients typically invest over shorter durations than institutional investors, such as pension funds and insurance companies.

"Private markets really should be for people with those long-term ambitions and investment horizons and they should be matched accordingly," Dalwood said.

He said the so-called "democratization" of private markets, which has seen a greater push by private asset managers into the retail wealth sphere, necessitates better investor education about liquidity limits during bouts of market stress.

Dalwood added that around 3% of private assets are in evergreen vehicles, but that's likely to grow in the coming years.