Attempting to quash "rumors and speculation that have been in the press," Michael Rees, Blue Owl Capital co-president, said at a Tuesday earnings call that he will continue leading the general partner stakes business.
News reports of Mr. Rees' potential departure came after the firm rebranded its business units and made top executive changes.
Mr. Rees was the founder of Dyal Capital, a GP strategic capital business involved in the merger that created Blue Owl.
During Blue Owl's second-quarter earnings call, Mr. Rees said he is "100% committed to Blue Owl's long-term success" and as a show of alignment for the long term he will receive 100% of his 2023, 2024 and 2025 compensation in Blue Owl equity.
"I look forward to continuing to drive value for our shareholders," Mr. Rees said.
Blue Owl was formed in 2021 through the merger of credit manager Owl Rock Capital Group and Dyal Capital Partners, which was a business of Neuberger Berman Group with a special purpose acquisition company. The merger created Blue Owl Capital, a publicly traded alternative investment firm.
New York-based Blue Owl on Tuesday reported $149.6 billion in assets under management as of June 30, including $73.8 billion in credit, its largest business and $50.9 billion for GP strategic capital, its second-largest business. Total AUM was up 26% year over year driven by fundraising and deployment in credit, the firm said.
At the time of the merger, Blue Owl's management team included CEO Douglas Ostrover, Owl Rock co-founder and CEO; Mr. Rees, founder and managing director of Dyal; and Marc Lipschultz, Owl Rock co-founder and president, as co-presidents.
Craig Packer, Owl Rock co-founder, continued as CEO of the Owl Rock business development companies.
On May 12, Blue Owl's board of directors promoted Mr. Lipschultz to co-CEO from co-president, serving alongside Mr. Ostrover.
The board appointed Mr. Packer and Marc Zahr, co-founder and CEO of Oak Street, now Blue Owl's $24.8 billion real estate business, as co-presidents. Mr. Rees remains a co-president.
In June, Blue Owl rebranded all its businesses, retiring the Dyal, Owl Rock and Oak Street names.
Also on the earnings call, Alan Kirshenbaum, chief financial officer, said he expects fundraising, which had been roughly split evenly between institutional and retail investors, to tilt toward institutional clients as the year progresses. In the second quarter, Blue Owl raised $20.4 billion, up from $17.2 billion in the year-earlier quarter. Of the total raised in the second quarter, $11.2 billion came from institutional investors, mainly in the form of separately managed accounts and smaller funds, and $9.2 billion from retail clients, according to Mr. Ostrover and Blue Owl's earnings presentation.
He said the firm is seeing more interest from international investors, with the bulk of investors in its sixth real estate fund currently in the market expected to come from international limited partners.
