Blue Owl Capital Inc. is re-branding its business units in a public show of unity amid brewing tensions among the firm’s senior executives.
(Bloomberg) — Blue Owl Capital Inc. is re-branding its business units in a public show of unity amid brewing tensions among the firm’s senior executives.
It’s renaming Dyal Capital, which takes stakes in private equity firms, to Blue Owl GP Strategic Capital, according to an investor letter seen by Bloomberg. Owl Rock, its direct lending arm, will become Blue Owl Credit, while its Oak Street real estate unit will be renamed Blue Owl Real Estate.
Blue Owl Capital was formed in 2021 after Owl Rock, founded by Marc Lipschultz and Doug Ostrover, merged with Dyal Capital, founded by Michael Rees, through a SPAC deal.
“The strategic shift to a unified brand reflects our long-term commitment to delivering the collective power of our investment capabilities to the market,” the New York-based firm said in the letter. “As we emerge as one Blue Owl, our mission and the solutions we provide to our investors and users of our capital remain unchanged.”
Tensions between the co-founders have been simmering for months, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Lipschultz and Ostrover, Blue Owl’s co-chief executive officers, asked Rees to resign, the people said. Semafor reported on the dispute earlier this month.
The rebranding has been in development for more than a year, said a Blue Owl spokesman, who declined to comment on the state of the executives’ relationship.
The rebranding of Dyal Capital is notable because the firm is named after Rees’s children. He built the Dyal business at Lehman Brothers before taking it to Neuberger Berman.
Lipschultz Promotion
The strains among the co-founders intensified after the firm announced in a filing that it had promoted Lipschultz on May 12 to co-CEO from co-president, a title he had shared with Rees since the merger.
Owl Rock’s side of the business has grown bigger than Dyal’s, with assets under management in the direct lending unit hitting $71.6 billion as of March 31, compared with $49.2 billion for the GP stakes unit, according to a filing. Each had assets under management of $31.2 billion during the quarter ended June 30, 2021.
Dyal is seeking to raise $13 billion for its sixth investment fund, Bloomberg reported last week.
Read more: Blue Owl Unit Dyal Capital Sets $13 Billion Target for New Fund
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