Blue Owl Capital

Blue Owl Capital Inc. is an American alternative investment asset management company that is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol: "OWL". Headquartered in New York City, it has additional offices around the world, including London, Dubai, and Hong Kong.

History

Dyal Capital was formed in 2011 by Michael Rees.[2][4][5] It provided financing to hedge funds and private equity firms by acquiring minority interests in them.[4][5]

Owl Rock Capital Group was founded in 2016.[2][6] It was a middle market private credit direct lending firm that dealt with credit investments.[2][6]

In December 2020, it was announced there would be a merger between Dyal Capital Partners and Owl Rock.[1][2] The two firms combined with a special-purpose acquisition company, Altimar Acquisition Corp to form Blue Owl.[1][2][7]

In May 2021, the transaction was completed and Blue Owl was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.[8][9][10] The deal was valued at $12.2 billion which included a $1.5 billion commitment from investors such as ICONIQ Capital, Federated Hermes and Liberty Mutual.[1][2]

In October 2021, Blue Owl acquired Oak Street, a private equity real estate firm for $950 million.[11][12][13]

In December 2021, Blue Owl acquired Ascentium Group, a business development office based in Hong Kong.[14] This was done as part of its plans to expand in Asia.[14]

In October 2022, Bloomberg reported Blue Owl intended to expand the size of its offices in Greenwich, Connecticut and had opened an office in New Jersey.[15]

In July 2024, the firm entered into an agreement to purchase a private credit firm, Atalaya Capital Management.[16]

In October 2025, Meta Platforms, Inc formed a $27 Billion joint venture with Blue Owl for the development of Hyperion data center for AI in Richland Parish, Louisiana.[17]

In November 2025, Blue Owl announced an agreement for merging its private fund Blue Owl Capital Corporation II ("OBDC II")[18]but later called off the merger after facing revolt from investors and falling stock price.[19]

In February 2026, Blue Owl announced it will permanently restrict investor withdrawals from its primary private retail debt fund, Blue Owl Capital Corp II. At the same time, the firm sold 30% of its credit assets, amounting to $1.4 billion, to maintain liquidity for its investors.[20]

References

  1. Owl Rock, Dyal Capital to merge in $12 billion deal Pensions & Investments, December 23, 2020^
  2. Cara Lombardo and Miriam Gottfried. Owl Rock, Dyal Strike Deal to Combine and Go Public Wall Street Journal, December 23, 2020^
  3. Q4 2025 Results Blue Owl Capital, February 10, 2025^
  4. Michael Rees: how a private equity chief turned the tables on his peers Financial Times, July 22, 2021, retrieved October 17, 2022^
  5. Lehman spinout profits from buying into buyout groups Financial Times, January 4, 2019, retrieved October 17, 2022^
  6. Matt Wirz. Behind the Rise of Owl Rock: Low Fees Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2020, retrieved October 17, 2022^
  7. Cara Lombardo and Miriam Gottfried. Owl Rock, Dyal Strike Deal to Combine and Go Public Wall Street Journal, December 23, 2020, retrieved October 17, 2022^
  8. The Biggest IPOs of 2021 Morningstar, Inc., December 15, 2021, retrieved October 17, 2022^
  9. Miriam Gottfried. Blue Owl, Newest Private-Equity Creation, Sees Wisdom in Simplicity Wall Street Journal, June 23, 2021, retrieved October 17, 2022^
  10. Luisa Beltran. Blue Owl's Stock Will Rise This Year, Analyst Says www.barrons.com, retrieved October 17, 2022^
  11. Blue Owl Capital to acquire Oak Street Real Estate Capital Pensions & Investments, October 18, 2021, retrieved October 17, 2022^
  12. Oak Street Real Estate Capital To be Acquired by Blue Owl Capital www.willkie.com, retrieved October 17, 2022^
  13. Sonali Basak. Blue Owl Capital Plans London IPO of Dyal Assets www.bloomberg.com, March 4, 2022, retrieved October 17, 2022^
  14. Blue Owl buys Ascentium Group as part of Asia expansion Pensions & Investments, December 13, 2021, retrieved October 17, 2022^
  15. Natalie Wong, Hema Parmar, Lizzie Kane. Citadel, Blue Owl Expand in Connecticut in Bid to Cut Commutes Bloomberg, October 27, 2022, retrieved October 27, 2022^
  16. Sonali Basak, Sridhar Natarajan, Gillian Tan. Blue Owl to Buy Atalaya in Deeper Push Into Private Credit Bloomberg, 16 July 2024, retrieved 17 July 2024^
  17. Jonathan Vanian. Meta partners with Blue Owl Capital on $27 billion AI data center project CNBC.com, CNBC, October 15, 2025, retrieved Feb 18, 2026^
  18. Blue Owl Capital Corporation and Blue Owl Capital Corporation II Announce Merger Agreement www.blueowlcapitalcorporation.com, November 5, 2025, retrieved Feb 20, 2026^
  19. Leslie Picker. Blue Owl calls off merger of its two private credit funds after announcement rattles stock CNBC.com, November 19, 2025, retrieved Feb 20, 2026^
  20. Antoine Gara. Blue Owl permanently halts redemptions at private credit fund aimed at retail investors Financial Times, February 18, 2026, retrieved February 19, 2026^