KKR & Co. Inc. (KKR), Financial Analysis

1 Revenue & Business Model

• Storyline: fee income rises with AUM and the K‑Series reporting change; insurance earnings fall; the USI sale is expected to add about $2.0bn of ANI in Q4 2026. In Q3 2026 FRE was 75.7% of TOE, insurance operating earnings 13.3% and Strategic Holdings 11.0%. Chapters 2 to 5 cover the four drivers: private equity incl. K‑Series, real assets and infrastructure, credit and asset based finance, and Global Atlantic insurance.
• Three segments: Asset Management (business lines Private Equity, Real Assets, Credit and Liquid Strategies, plus Capital Markets and Principal Activities); Insurance (Global Atlantic, acquired Feb 2021 with about 63% economic ownership, 100% from Jan 2024); Strategic Holdings (Core PE businesses, earnings through dividends). 37 offices at 30 Sep 2026; traditional PE was over 70% of AUM in 2010 and under 25% at 30 Sep 2026 (Form 10-Q).
• Segment measures against GAAP: FRE, TOE and ANI are non GAAP segment measures. GAAP total revenues include consolidated funds and CLOs, carried interest marked to market and insurance premiums, and GAAP net income includes unrealized gains and losses; ANI excludes unrealized carried interest and investment gains and losses, transaction items and amortization of intangibles, and is after taxes on adjusted earnings. Q3 2026 GAAP total revenues were $4.56bn, (17.4%), while ANI rose 29.2%.
• Growth FY2021 to FY2025: AUM $470.6bn to $743.9bn; management fees $2.07bn to $4.10bn, a 18.6% CAGR; FRE $1.97bn to $3.71bn. FY2021 and FY2022 ANI use the older after tax distributable earnings measure, replaced by ANI in 2024.
• Strategic Holdings: operating earnings $277m in 9M 2026 against $118m in 9M 2025; the Q4 2025 and Q1 2026 releases expect $350m or more in 2026, $700m or more by 2028 and $1.1bn or more by 2030. KKR's share of LTM adjusted EBITDA of the holdings was $1.1bn, by headquarters 66% Americas, 28% Europe and 6% Asia Pacific. KKR does not report revenue by region.
• Capital raised and returned: $129.4bn raised in FY2025 (record) and $87.3bn in 9M 2026; KKR expects to return more than $40bn to fund clients in 2026, against an average of $21bn a year in 2021 to 2025 (Q3 2026 release).

2 Private Equity and K‑Series: Fees +18%, Performance Fees Move into FRE

• Private Equity management fees $466m in Q3 2026, +18.2%; growth was 37.4% in Q1 2026 and 32.0% in Q2 2026, which included catch up fees. Fee related revenues $702m, +65.2%, include K‑Series PE performance fees from Q2 2026.
• Realized performance income $490m against $703m; ($70.9m) in Q4 2025 after the carried interest repayment relating to Asian Fund II, then $694m and $831m. Part of the Q3 2026 decline reflects the move of K‑Series fees into FRE.
• AUM $256.1bn, +15.3%; fee paying AUM $170.6bn, +13.9%. Arctos added $16.0bn of AUM from 4 May 2026. New capital raised $4.1bn in Q3 2026 against $5.5bn; North America Fund XIV held its final close at $23bn (Q1 2026 release).
• K‑Series: AUM across asset classes $45bn at 30 Sep 2026 against $29bn, +55%. The 10-K adds a risk factor on products for individual investors and names K‑Series redemption rights in the liquidity factor.
• Exits: USI Insurance Services, the first Core PE sale, to Aon (about $2.0bn of ANI expected in Q4 2026); gross unrealized carried interest $9.7bn at 30 Sep 2026.

How private equity is changing

• Individual investors: KKR K‑Series AUM $45bn and Blackstone BXPE $28.5bn at 30 Sep 2026 (Q3 2026 Forms 8-K). Both firms report growth in vehicles for individual investors alongside institutional funds.
• Exits and distributions: KKR expects more than $40bn returned to clients in 2026 against $21bn a year in 2021 to 2025; Carlyle realized proceeds $5.7bn in Q3 2026 and $23.6bn over the LTM (Forms 8-K).
• Returns: Blackstone corporate PE appreciation 14.7% over the LTM; Apollo flagship PE gross return (2.6%) in Q3 2026 and 2.0% over the LTM (Forms 8-K).
• Secondaries and GP solutions: the Arctos release cites 2025 PE secondaries volume of about $226bn, +41%; Ares Secondaries Group AUM $46.3bn, +21% (Forms 8-K).
• Fee growth differs by firm: KKR Private Equity management fees +18.2% and Blackstone +16.8%, against Ares +3.3% and Carlyle (7.6%), where segment AUM fell 2%.

3 Real Assets and Infrastructure: Fees +13%, $19.2bn Infrastructure Fund Closed

• Real Assets management fees $395m in Q3 2026, +12.8%, against growth of 30% to 37% in the four prior quarters; fee related revenues $517m, +21.3%.
• AUM $211.7bn, +13.6%; fee paying AUM $176.5bn, +13.3%. New capital raised $6.7bn in Q3 2026 after $15.7bn in Q2 2026; capital invested $8.4bn.
• Infrastructure: Global Infrastructure Investors V held its final close at $19.2bn in Aug 2026, KKR's largest infrastructure fund; the infrastructure portfolio appreciated 9% over the LTM and opportunistic real estate declined 2% (Q3 2026 release). Helix Digital Infrastructure led new capital raised in Q2 2026 (Q2 2026 release).

How real assets and infrastructure are changing

• Infrastructure fundraising: Brookfield Asset Management received about $50bn of commitments across infrastructure strategies in the year to Q3 2026, incl. $26bn for its flagship strategy ahead of a first close and $10bn for its AI infrastructure fund and infrastructure debt (8-K, 6 Nov 2026).
• Infrastructure returns: Blackstone infrastructure funds appreciated 6.4% in Q3 2026 and 28.9% over the LTM, with BIP AUM incl. co investment $91.9bn (8-K, 22 Oct 2026); KKR infrastructure +9% over the LTM.
• Real estate: Blackstone Real Estate segment AUM fell 4% to $309.0bn and its management fees fell 8.7%, with opportunistic funds down 4.0% over the LTM; KKR opportunistic real estate declined 2% over the LTM.
• Growth at peers: Ares Real Assets management fees +29.2% and AUM $161.6bn, +22%; TPG Real Estate AUM $43.2bn, +14.7%; Blue Owl Real Assets AUM $94.9bn (Forms 8-K).

4 Credit and Asset Based Finance: $337bn AUM, Fees +7%

• Credit and Liquid Strategies management fees $340m in Q3 2026, +6.6%, after 15.6% in Q1 2026 and 8.8% in Q2 2026; fee related revenues $347m, +2.6%.
• AUM $336.6bn, +7.0%; fee paying AUM $300.8bn, +7.6%. New capital raised $14.4bn against $26.9bn; capital invested $8.4bn against $10.8bn.
• Asset based finance AUM $91bn at 30 Sep 2026 against $84bn, the most active area of credit deployment in Q3 2026; KKR posted an asset based finance overview on 4 Nov 2026. Direct lending AUM $39bn against $47bn, after labels changed in Q1 2026 (direct lending now within corporate private credit).
• Private credit AUM $139bn at 30 Sep 2026: $91bn asset based finance and $49bn corporate private credit. The FY2025 Form 10-K names private credit and lending close to insurance as areas of regulatory attention.

How private credit and asset based finance are changing

• Insurance capital in credit: Blackstone Credit and Insurance took $35.8bn of inflows in Q3 2026, incl. $18.0bn for infrastructure and asset based credit, of which $16.5bn came from insurance separately managed accounts (8-K, 22 Oct 2026).
• Origination scale: Apollo reported record origination of $114bn in Q3 2026 and $356bn over the LTM; credit AUM $869.7bn (8-K, 3 Nov 2026).
• Consolidation: Brookfield Asset Management completed the purchase of the remaining interest in Oaktree in Jul 2026 and raised $12bn in credit in Q3 2026, incl. $3.8bn from Brookfield Wealth Solutions (8-K, 6 Nov 2026).
• Fee growth: Carlyle Global Credit +10.0%, Ares Credit Group +9.5%, KKR +6.6% and Blackstone Credit and Insurance +5.5%; TPG raised $24.8bn of credit capital over the LTM, its largest platform by capital raised.

5 Global Atlantic Insurance: $223bn AUM, Operating Earnings (24%)

• Insurance operating earnings $230.3m in Q3 2026, (24.4%); net investment income $1.95bn, +6.1%; net cost of insurance $1.55bn, +14.6%, which KKR attributes to business growth, higher funding costs and run off of older business written at lower cost.
• Actuarial review: a $26m charge in Q3 2026 against a $41m benefit in Q3 2025; before it, about $257m against $264m, (2.7%). TTM insurance operating earnings $1.05bn; total insurance economics $1.9bn LTM against $1.8bn.
• Global Atlantic AUM $223bn at 30 Sep 2026 against $212bn; Ivy and other sponsored reinsurance vehicles $63bn within it. Book value $11.98bn against $10.39bn.
• Strategy: the 10-K describes a shift toward longer duration liabilities and more PE and real assets in the portfolio, and adds a risk factor stating competition in life and annuities has risen.

How retirement insurance owned by asset managers is changing

• Spreads: Apollo Retirement Services net spread 1.06% in Q3 2026 against 1.24% a year earlier (1.14% excluding one time items); spread related earnings $844m, (3.1%), and $909m, +7.4%, excluding one time items; Athene gross organic inflows $18.7bn (8-K, 3 Nov 2026). Global Atlantic net cost of insurance grew faster than net investment income.
• Bermuda tax: Apollo recorded a one time $1.7bn tax expense in 2026 after revoking ACRA's election under Bermuda's Corporate Income Tax Act 2023; KKR's 10-K names Bermuda corporate income tax as a risk to tax expense.
• Pension risk transfer: Brookfield Wealth Solutions acquired UK insurer Just Group, raising total assets to $205.7bn at 30 Jun 2026 from $148.9bn, and wrote $5bn of annuity sales in Q2 2026 (6-K, 13 Aug 2026).
• Regulation and competition: KKR's FY2025 Form 10-K adds factors on competition from insurers owned by or partnered with alternative asset managers and on NAIC initiatives aimed at such insurers; Blackstone and Ares serve insurers as managers, Blackstone with $16.5bn of insurance account inflows in Q3 2026.

6 Financial Analysis & Ratios

• GAAP results: TTM Q3 2026 total revenues $20.35bn, income before taxes $5.95bn and net income to common stockholders $3.25bn ($3.43 per diluted share). KKR reports no operating income line; this chapter uses revenues less expenses, before investment income, in its place: $1.94bn TTM, 9.5% of revenues.
• Segment results TTM Q3 2026: FRE $4.52bn ($4.96 per adjusted share), TOE $5.89bn ($6.46), ANI $5.39bn ($5.92); FRE margin 70% over the LTM. Gross realized performance income $2.21bn in 9M 2026.
• Definition changes: from Q2 2026, K‑Series PE realized performance fees are reported in fee related performance revenues at 15% to 20% compensation instead of realized performance income at 70% to 80%; prior periods are not restated (about $230m in 9M 2025 and $380m in 9M 2026). From Q1 2026, insurance segment expenses moved into net cost of insurance, with no change to insurance operating earnings.
• Restatements: LDTI was adopted on 1 Jan 2023 with FY2021 and FY2022 restated; FY2022 net income to common moved from ($910.1m) to ($590.7m) and FY2021 from $4.56bn to $4.63bn. The FY2021 balance sheet in this report is the version before LDTI.
• Balance sheet at 30 Sep 2026: KKR issued or guaranteed debt $9.34bn at par, average maturity about 15 years; KKR cash and short term investments $5.39bn; net cash and investments $4.95bn; $3bn revolver undrawn. GAAP debt of $49.3bn in Asset Management and Strategic Holdings is mostly consolidated CLO and fund debt without recourse to KKR.
• Capital returns: dividend $0.195 a quarter in 2026 ($0.78 a year, from $0.74); $906m used for 9.9m shares at $91.65 from 31 Dec 2025 to 4 Nov 2026, incl. shares withheld under equity plans; buyback authorization raised by $500m on 6 Nov 2026 to $533m available. Series D 6.25% mandatory convertible preferred ($2.54bn net) converts by 1 Mar 2028 into about 21.4m shares.

Segment earnings, realizations and cost structure

• TOE $1.74bn in Q3 2026: FRE $1.32bn, insurance operating earnings $230m and Strategic Holdings $192m. Fee related performance revenues $326m against $73m, incl. about $220m of K‑Series PE performance fees.
• Realizations: gross realized performance income $602m against $931m and net $151m against $233m; net realized investment income $199m against $74m. Gross unrealized carried interest $9.7bn and net $2.4bn at 30 Sep 2026, with carry compensation accrued at the 75% midpoint.
• From TOE to ANI: ANI was 94.7% of TOE in Q3 2026 and 91.6% over the TTM, against 87.8% in FY2025, 96.4% in FY2024 and 94.6% in FY2023. The ratio moves with net realized performance and investment income and taxes.
• Q3 2026 GAAP items outside ANI: the $230m impairment of an equity method asset management partnership, a $75m contingent reserve release, $14m of integration costs and $47m of acquisition stock consideration; Q3 2026 GAAP net losses from investment activities ($229m).
• Cost structure: total expenses were 97.7% of GAAP revenues in FY2025 against 69.1% in FY2021; FRE margin 70% LTM against 69% a year earlier (Q3 2026 release).

7 MD&A & Management Commentary

Q3 2026 results release (Form 8-K of 9 Nov 2026) and Form 10-Q

• Fee income: management fees $1.20bn, +12.9%; FRE $1.32bn (+27.4%), $1.42 per adjusted share; LTM FRE $4.52bn, +26%. The release names the second consecutive quarter of record FRE, TOE and ANI per share.
• Insurance: operating earnings $230m incl. a $26m charge from the annual actuarial review (about $257m before it, against $264m on the same basis in Q3 2025); Global Atlantic AUM $223bn and book value $11.98bn.
• Monetization: KKR expects more than $40bn returned to fund clients in 2026; gross realized performance income $2.21bn in 9M 2026; USI sale to Aon expected to close in Q4 2026 with about $2.0bn of ANI, over $2.00 per share, the first exit from Core PE.
• Business environment (Form 10-Q): the Federal Reserve raised its policy rate to 3.875% from 3.625% in Q3 2026 and the US 10 year yield rose 82 bps in the quarter; tariffs and the Middle East conflict are named as sources of volatility for valuations, deployment, realizations and fundraising.

Management and CFO commentary

• Co‑CEOs Joseph Bae and Scott Nuttall, Q3 2026 release: second consecutive quarter of record FRE, TOE and ANI per share on a quarterly and LTM basis; more than $40bn to be returned to clients in 2026.
• Q2 2026 release: record FRE, TOE and ANI per share; FRE +37% and ANI +40%; K‑Series PE realized performance fees reported in FRE from Q2 2026; Arctos closed on 4 May 2026 and is reported within Private Equity.
• Q1 2026 release: North America Fund XIV held its final close at $23bn, which KKR names the largest PE fund focused solely on North America.
• Q4 2025 release: record annual FRE and ANI per share, capital raised and capital invested in 2025; management fees +18% to $4.1bn in 2025.

8 Sector & Competitor Analysis

• Sector: alternative asset managers with retirement insurance. Peers in this report: Blackstone, Apollo (Athene), Carlyle, Ares, Blue Owl, TPG and Brookfield Asset Management, with Brookfield Wealth Solutions for insurance. All figures come from their Q3 2026 Forms 8-K (Ex 99.1 or 99.2), except Brookfield Wealth Solutions (Q2 2026 Form 6-K).
• FRE growth Q3 2026, year on year: TPG +43%, KKR +27.4% (about +6% without the K‑Series change), Apollo +23%, Brookfield Asset Management +15%, Blue Owl +14%, Ares +11.2%, Blackstone +6.2% and Carlyle (6.2%). By segment: Blackstone Private Equity +26%, Real Estate (9%) and Credit and Insurance (1%); Ares Credit +11% and Real Assets +32%; Carlyle Global Credit +11%.
• FRE margin: KKR 70% over the LTM; Blue Owl 58.8%, Apollo 58.4%, TPG 50%, Carlyle 47% and Ares 42.5% in Q3 2026. Blackstone and Brookfield Asset Management report no firm level FRE margin. Margin definitions differ between firms.
• Scale: Apollo credit AUM $869.7bn; Brookfield Asset Management fee bearing capital $682bn, +13%; TPG AUM $346bn, +21%; Blue Owl AUM $329.9bn, +12%; KKR AUM $804.4bn, +11%.
• Valuation: KKR trades at 16.6x TTM ANI per adjusted share and 28.6x TTM GAAP diluted EPS. Peer valuations are not shown, as peer share counts were not collected from filings.

9 Material Events & Contracts

• 16 Forms 8-K from 7 Nov 2025 to 9 Nov 2026: five results releases, the Arctos agreement, two credit facilities, three filings on the special meeting and director election, the DOJ settlement, two investor presentations, a director appointment and a COO departure. No Form 8-K/A was filed.
• Arctos (8-K of 5 Feb 2026): $1.4bn initial consideration and up to $550m of equity tied to share price and business targets through 2031; KKR Solutions, led by Ian Charles, covers sports, GP solutions and multi asset secondaries; closed on 4 May 2026 with $16bn of AUM.
• DOJ settlement (8-K of 26 Aug 2026): the HSR premerger notification case of Jan 2025 over 2021 and 2022 transactions settled for a $250.0m civil penalty paid by a subsidiary; KKR states outside law firms will reimburse it in full, with no financial impact on KKR, its funds or investors.
• USI (8-K of 31 Aug 2026): sale of USI Insurance Services, KKR's first Core PE investment to be sold, to Aon plc; about $2.0bn of ANI expected in Q4 2026.

10 Ownership, Voting Power & Special Meeting

• No annual meeting was held in 2026; directors are elected by KKR Management LLP, the sole holder of the Series I preferred share, which is jointly controlled by Co‑Executive Chairmen Henry Kravis and George Roberts. It re elected 11 directors by written consent on 29 May 2026 and raised the board to 12 with Brian J. Lee on 26 Oct 2026. KKR is a controlled company until the Sunset Date, not later than 31 Dec 2026.
• Special meeting of 21 Apr 2026: stockholders approved three charter amendments effective at the Sunset Date (stockholder meetings as the sole voting mechanism, board authority to fill vacancies, a fixed board size). Removal of supermajority requirements for certain charter amendments received 97.83% of votes cast but did not reach the 90% of outstanding shares needed; the reconvened meeting of 21 May 2026 lacked the 90% quorum.
• Ownership (FY2025 Form 10-K, 24 Feb 2026): George Roberts 9.41%, Henry Kravis 9.11%, Scott Nuttall 2.38% and Joseph Bae 2.07%; directors and executive officers 23.20%; Vanguard 6.31% and BlackRock 5.04%. Quarterly 13F holder data were not collected for this report.
• Insiders, 10 Nov 2025 to 10 Nov 2026: 13 open market purchases by 5 insiders for $50.9m, all in Feb and Mar 2026 at $87.81 to $104.93; one open market sale of 10,000 shares ($1.1m) by Chief Administrative Officer Dane Holmes at $108.58.
• Largest purchases: Co‑CEOs Scott Nuttall and Joseph Bae bought 175,000 shares each ($17.2m each) on 17 and 27 Feb 2026; directors Timothy Barakett 100,000 shares ($9.97m), Matt Cohler 43,872 ($4.5m) and Mary Dillon 22,225 ($2.0m). Other filings: gifts by Kravis (350,000 shares), Bae (468,252) and Lewin (10,000); grants of 650,000 restricted holdings units to CFO Robert Lewin and 300,000 to Kathryn Sudol on 29 Apr 2026.

11 Risk Factors

• Item 1A of the FY2025 Form 10-K changed: 70 risk factors against 74 in FY2024; 18 added, 22 removed and 51 materially reworded, with 1 unchanged. Words fell to 40,247 from 71,095, (43.4%).
• Regulation: the 10,799 word FY2024 factor on extensive regulation was removed and replaced by a Regulatory Matters group of 13 factors, incl. regulation of insurers owned by alternative asset managers, investment and competition laws that can restrict transactions given KKR's size, financial crime laws and ERISA plan asset exposure.
• New business and insurance factors: sale of financial products to individual investors (K‑Series redemption rights now also named in the liquidity factor), capital raising for vehicles, insurance and transactions, and competition in life and annuities from insurers owned by or partnered with alternative asset managers.

How risk factors changed

• Comparison: 10-K FY2025 Item 1A, filed 27 Feb 2026, acc 0001404912-26-000007 against 10-K FY2024 Item 1A, filed 28 Feb 2025, acc 0001404912-25-000015.
• Individual investors appear in 11 factors against 5 a year earlier, with new factors on selling and distributing products to them and on K‑Series redemption rights.
• The Investment Activities group fell to 11 factors from 18 and the Insurance group to 15 from 20, mainly by merging or removing Global Atlantic technical factors such as FHLB membership, repo and funds withheld.
• The Sunset Date, no later than 31 Dec 2026, is named 12 times in 3 factors against 5 times in 2 factors, including a new factor on remaining reorganization steps.

12 Stock Price, Scenarios & Sensitivity

• KKR closed at $98.09 on 9 Nov 2026, 32.0% below the 52 week high of $144.29 and 18.8% above the low of $82.54; market value $87.9bn on 896.3m common shares and $90.5bn on 922.2m adjusted shares.
• Valuation: 16.6x TTM ANI per adjusted share ($5.92), 19.8x TTM FRE per adjusted share ($4.96), 15.2x TTM TOE per adjusted share ($6.46) and 28.6x TTM GAAP diluted EPS ($3.43); dividend yield 0.8%; 3.17x common stockholders equity of $30.92 per share.
• Scenario model (model assumptions, not company guidance): TOE grows from TTM Q3 2026 $5.89bn for three years; ANI equals a share of TOE (91.6% TTM); ANI per share uses 922.2m adjusted shares, plus 21.4m shares from the Series D conversion in the base and worst cases; implied price equals ANI per share in year 3 times an exit P/ANI multiple. The expected Q4 2026 USI gain is excluded.

Critical factors and core assumptions

• Base year: TTM Q3 2026 TOE $5.89bn and ANI $5.39bn ($5.92 per adjusted share); ANI as % of TOE 94.6% in FY2023, 96.4% in FY2024 and 87.8% in FY2025.
• Best case: TOE CAGR 16%, ANI 96% of TOE, 20x P/ANI, share count unchanged as buybacks offset the Series D conversion; fundraising above $120bn a year and realizations at the 2026 level.
• Base case: TOE CAGR 11%, ANI 90% of TOE, 17x P/ANI, share count +2.3% from the Series D conversion; fees grow with fee paying AUM and insurance earnings stay near $1.0bn a year.
• Worst case: TOE CAGR 4%, ANI 84% of TOE, 12x P/ANI, share count +2.3%; fundraising slows, exits are delayed and insurance spreads narrow.
• Not modelled: the Q4 2026 USI gain of about $2.0bn of ANI, dividends ($0.78 a year) and changes in tax structure beyond Bermuda corporate income tax.

Scenarios, three years forward

Sensitivity analysis

Disclaimer

This analysis is for information only and is not financial advice. It is derived from public SEC filings retrieved via sec-api.io and is not a publication of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Scenario values are model outputs under stated assumptions and are not forecasts. Data as of 9 November 2026.

Sources

All company figures are read from SEC filings retrieved through the sec-api.io MCP server, under central index key 1404912 for KKR & Co. Inc. and the central index keys of the peer companies listed below. Management statements come from the Forms 8-K and their exhibits.