KKR & Co. reported record second-quarter 2026 earnings on Wednesday, July 30, capping its strongest trailing-twelve-month period on several key metrics as the alternative asset manager’s real estate and infrastructure investments continued to expand, according to the company’s second-quarter earnings release filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The New York-based firm raised $34 billion in new capital during the quarter, pushing its trailing-twelve-month fundraising total to $133 billion. Total assets under management reached $796 billion as of June 30, up 16% year over year, while fee-paying AUM climbed to $638 billion, up 15%. KKR deployed $24 billion in the quarter and $104 billion over the trailing twelve months.
Fee-related earnings rose 37% year over year to $1.2 billion, or $1.32 per adjusted share. Total operating earnings climbed 29% to $1.5 billion, or $1.68 per adjusted share — both records for the firm. Adjusted net income rose 40% to $1.5 billion, or $1.63 per adjusted share. On a GAAP basis, net income attributable to common stockholders was $660 million, or $0.70 per diluted share, on total revenues of $5.7 billion for the quarter, up from $5.09 billion a year earlier.
The firm’s Real Assets segment — which houses KKR’s real estate, infrastructure and energy investment strategies — ended the quarter with $211 billion in assets under management, up 18% year over year, and pulled in $16 billion of new capital in the quarter, the largest single-segment fundraising haul of KKR’s three main investment platforms. Private Equity AUM stood at $255 billion, up 19% year over year, boosted in part by KKR’s acquisition of sports and media investment firm Arctos, which closed May 4 and added $20 billion in AUM. Credit and Liquid Strategies AUM reached $331 billion, up 13%.
KKR’s insurance business, anchored by Global Atlantic, generated $3.5 billion in revenue for the quarter and reported $220 billion in AUM with an $11.8 billion book value; insurance operating earnings were $288 million. Strategic Holdings, KKR’s permanent-capital portfolio of controlling and minority stakes in operating companies, generated $1.1 billion in trailing-twelve-month adjusted EBITDA, with 66% of that portfolio concentrated in the Americas.
KKR’s board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.195 per share of common stock, payable Aug. 25, 2026. The firm ended the quarter with $5.3 billion in cash and short-term investments against $9.3 billion in outstanding debt at par, for a net cash position of $4.6 billion, and reported $10.2 billion in gross unrealized carried interest — a measure of future potential performance fee revenue tied to the eventual sale or exit of existing fund investments.
Co-Chief Executive Officer Joseph Y. Bae said the results reflected “the strength and breadth of KKR’s global franchise,” pointing to record metrics on both a quarterly and trailing-twelve-month basis and expressing confidence in the firm’s position to deliver “differentiated outcomes for clients and shareholders.”
What it means: KKR’s results are the latest signal that large alternative asset managers continue to expand their real estate and infrastructure books even as parts of the commercial property market work through higher-rate-driven repricing. The $16 billion raised for Real Assets in a single quarter, and the segment’s 18% AUM growth, point to sustained institutional investor appetite for real estate, infrastructure and energy strategies managed by scaled platforms — a dynamic RealtyWire has also tracked in other large private capital moves, including Meta and BlackRock’s $14 billion data center joint venture and EQT Real Estate’s $268 million industrial logistics financing. Whether that pace of capital formation holds through the back half of 2026 will depend in part on interest-rate direction and the broader deal-making environment for real estate transactions.
