Blue Owl Capital’s assets under management (AUM) rose to $314.9bn (£231.7bn) in the first quarter of 2026, as earnings also grew despite investor jitters in its wealth channels earlier this year.
In the quarter, the asset manager posted a 15 per cent increase in AUM compared with March 2025, which it attributed to capital raised over the period, as well as changes in debt and appreciation across the business. The firm also reported that distributable earnings grew 11 per cent year on year, while fee-related earnings rose 14 per cent.
Blue Owl recorded new capital commitments of $11bn in the quarter and $56.6bn over the last 12 months.
However, the results show that much of Blue Owl’s fundraising in the period came through its institutional channels, with $6.1bn raised in the quarter from these investors. This compared with $2.9bn from its wealth channel, marking a decline from the previous quarter.
This comes after Blue Owl decided to gate one of its retail debt funds in February, following high levels of withdrawal requests, with the wider US retail market experiencing a similar trend.
Several of the largest alternative asset managers, including Blackstone and BlackRock, have faced rising redemption requests as retail investors grow increasingly cautious about the asset class, particularly its exposure to software and the potential implications of artificial intelligence.
Overall, Blue Owl’s credit platform reported AUM of $159.2bn, up 14 per cent, which it said was primarily driven by capital raised in products from its direct lending and alternative credit strategies.
“Blue Owl’s results for the first quarter of 2026 demonstrate the power of our three differentiated and scaled platforms, each of which has contributed to our continued expansion to $315bn of AUM,” said Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz, co-chief executives of Blue Owl. “Our financial results reflect stability, stemming from our durable capital base, and growth, driven by fundraising and ongoing capital deployment.”
However, within its direct lending strategy, which accounts for more than a third of its assets, the firm reported a negative return of 1.1 per cent in the quarter, compared with a net return of five per cent over the last 12 months.
Also, within the direct lending strategy, repayments outpaced deal origination, resulting in negative net deployment of $0.5bn.
“Performance remains strong across credit, real assets, and general partner strategic capital, and we believe that the current market landscape tends to favour firms with patient capital and longer duration, such as Blue Owl,” Ostrover and Lipschultz added.
