New York-based alternative asset manager Blue Owl is growing Down Under.
As wealthy Australians increasingly turn to private markets to diversify beyond property and equities, private assets are stepping into focus. Brokers and advisers who understand the private markets are well positioned to win with increased revenues.
"There's a huge opportunity in the wealth channel," James Clarke, senior managing director and global head of institutional capital, said during a round table attended by Australian Broker. "When any investor constructs a portfolio, it's not an 'or' — whether it's private or public markets. It's an 'and' private and public markets. And we're thinking about what the right constellation of that portfolio is.
"And there's been massive wealth accumulation here in Australia," Clarke continued. "The average allocations of assets in the wealth channel in Australia is 3%. So it's still very much a nascent market. And because of the compulsory savings rate [in Australia], it's a growth market."
Sydney-based John Valtwies, principal and member of Blue Owl's private wealth team, added: "The opportunities set on the wealth channel in Australia is enormous. Australia is going to be the second largest pool of retirement savings by 2030 or so. And we're seeing that allocations in wealth to private markets in Australia are [currently] less than 5%. Aussies have a monstrous love affair with real estate and stocks. But they are allocating heavily now, in the last two or three years, to private markets."
Hence Blue Owl's expansion plans Down Under.
The four-year-old Blue Owl, which formed in May 2021 after Dyal Capital Partners and Owl Rock merged to form Blue Owl, now has an office in Melbourne and is slowly growing its presence in Australia.
"We're building the client base, and it's a very important market for us," said Clarke, who is based in New York. "We have boots on the ground; we now have five full-time people. And we're just in the early stages here."
In April 2024, Alicia Gregory was hired from Future Funds to be Blue Owl's deputy chief investment officer on the ground in Sydney. The following August, Valtwies was brought into the mix from Pimco to head up Blue Owl's private wealth team in Australia. Today, Blue Owl now has 23 clients in Australia and manages more than a billion dollars.
Globally, Blue Owl has more than $307 billion in assets under management, as of 31 December 2025, investing across credit, real assets and GP strategic capital by way of institutional investors, retail investors, the wealth channel and insurance companies.
Clarke estimates that Australia's private credit market, on the institutional side, "will be the second largest market by 2032 globally, really behind the US; bigger than the UK, bigger than Asia, bigger than Canada.
"Australians have about 18% of their assets in alternatives, which is really low, relative
to the rest of the world," he continued. "In the United States, the average allocation of private markets is about 30%. In the Middle East, it's even higher. So we saw the combination of Australia being a growth market and the market being under allocated."
Brokers and advisors who understand the market can lean in.
"People need financial advice; people need help and education," Valtwies said. "There's definitely an opportunity for financial advisors who understand wealth and high-net-worth individuals. But more to the point, in Australia, Blue Owl has a direct relationship with the market. And when I say the market, my market is financial advisors. We want to speak to the financial advisors.
The journey into wealth management in Australia for private markets is only at the beginning," he added.
