Key Takeaways
- • Blue Owl's credit business suffered outflows in Q2 2026 as wealthy investors pulled back, with total fresh capital raised falling to $7.6 billion from $12.1 billion a year earlier, according to Reuters.
- • Credit assets under management slipped to $158.1 billion from $159.2 billion at the end of March, while total AUM rose 12% to $319 billion.
- • Private wealth inflows fell to $1.7 billion from $4.4 billion, and institutional commitments declined to $5.9 billion from $7.6 billion.
- • Adjusted distributable earnings of 22 cents per share matched LSEG estimates, and shares rose as much as 6.3% after the results.
- • Management said it believes inflows from wealthy investors have troughed, and that redemption pressure has been confined to private credit funds.
Summary
Blue Owl suffered outflows from its credit business in the second quarter of 2026 as wealthy investors pulled back, according to Reuters, but the market responded positively on Thursday as data center investments and other business lines continued to grow. The company was at the center of this year's private credit turmoil and has sought to shift attention toward its broader platform, which includes infrastructure, real estate and stakes in asset managers. Shares jumped as much as 6.3% by midday after executives reported rising fee income from managing assets and said they expected the company to exceed 2026 earnings consensus. Adjusted distributable earnings per share came in at 22 cents, in line with estimates compiled by LSEG.
Fundraising was weaker year over year. Blue Owl raised total fresh capital of $7.6 billion, versus $12.1 billion a year earlier. Inflows from private wealth fell to $1.7 billion from $4.4 billion, while institutional investors, typically including pension funds and insurance companies, committed $5.9 billion, down from $7.6 billion. Combined with redemptions from some funds, credit AUM edged down to $158.1 billion from $159.2 at the end of March. Chief Financial Officer Alan Kirshenbaum said he expected institutional contributions to improve in the second half, and said the company believes it has "troughed by way of inflows" from wealthy investors. He added that mass redemption requests had been limited to private credit funds, with no increases seen across other wealth-dedicated products over the past few quarters. Analysts at Evercore ISI noted that private wealth fundraising "slowed materially from the prior quarter" but saw "reasonable asset growth all things considered."
In direct lending, Blue Owl originated $3.6 billion of loans in the quarter and deployed $600 million. Gross returns from direct lending strategies were 2.6%, rebounding from negative 0.4% in the first quarter but below the roughly 3% posted in the same quarter of 2025. Co-CEO Marc Lipschultz said that "credit health remains strong" and that there had been no meaningful change to the watchlist compared with a year earlier. Earlier in July, the firm maintained a 5% quarterly withdrawal limit for two private credit funds, as redemption requests, though down a few percentage points in the quarter, remained substantially elevated. Kirshenbaum said the company was not calling for a V-shaped recovery in sentiment but was cautiously optimistic that redemptions would continue to decline. The stock had lost around 36% of its value this year through the prior close.
Fundraising was weaker year over year. Blue Owl raised total fresh capital of $7.6 billion, versus $12.1 billion a year earlier. Inflows from private wealth fell to $1.7 billion from $4.4 billion, while institutional investors, typically including pension funds and insurance companies, committed $5.9 billion, down from $7.6 billion. Combined with redemptions from some funds, credit AUM edged down to $158.1 billion from $159.2 at the end of March. Chief Financial Officer Alan Kirshenbaum said he expected institutional contributions to improve in the second half, and said the company believes it has "troughed by way of inflows" from wealthy investors. He added that mass redemption requests had been limited to private credit funds, with no increases seen across other wealth-dedicated products over the past few quarters. Analysts at Evercore ISI noted that private wealth fundraising "slowed materially from the prior quarter" but saw "reasonable asset growth all things considered."
In direct lending, Blue Owl originated $3.6 billion of loans in the quarter and deployed $600 million. Gross returns from direct lending strategies were 2.6%, rebounding from negative 0.4% in the first quarter but below the roughly 3% posted in the same quarter of 2025. Co-CEO Marc Lipschultz said that "credit health remains strong" and that there had been no meaningful change to the watchlist compared with a year earlier. Earlier in July, the firm maintained a 5% quarterly withdrawal limit for two private credit funds, as redemption requests, though down a few percentage points in the quarter, remained substantially elevated. Kirshenbaum said the company was not calling for a V-shaped recovery in sentiment but was cautiously optimistic that redemptions would continue to decline. The stock had lost around 36% of its value this year through the prior close.
Go deeper than the headline
Research every firm in this story, track the ones that matter and get the daily briefing — free for 7 days.