Sports Investment Takes New Shape: 'KKR' Reveals Record Performance

KKR & Co. Inc. reported preliminary results for the fourth quarter and full year 2025 showing record fee-related earnings, adjusted earnings per share, fundraising and capital deployment. Assets under management rose 17% year-over-year to $744 billion, and fee-paying AUM increased 18% to $604 billion. The firm said it will launch a new business line called “KKR Solutions”—covering sports investments, GP capital solutions and secondaries—following its acquisition of Arctos Partners, a sports investment manager with about $15 billion in assets. Beginning in 2026, KKR will modestly raise its annual common-share dividend and has arranged a new 364-day unsecured revolving credit facility of roughly $3 billion through its Global Atlantic affiliate.

Market sources say KKR is paying about $1.4 billion for Arctos Partners, with the consideration potentially rising to $2 billion if performance targets are met. Once closed, the deal is expected to push the firm’s permanent and long-term capital to more than half of its total AUM. In another recent move, KKR is leading a consortium to acquire Singapore data-center operator ST Telemedia Global Data Centres in a transaction valued at over $10 billion, underscoring its growing digital-infrastructure investments to meet AI demand.

Headquartered in New York, KKR ranks alongside Blackstone and Apollo as one of the world’s three largest alternative-asset managers, overseeing hundreds of billions of dollars across private equity, credit, infrastructure, real estate and insurance through a multi-strategy platform. The alternative-investment industry has increasingly targeted real and intellectual-property assets with clear, long-term cash flows—such as sports teams and content, data centers and telecom infrastructure—making KKR’s Arctos acquisition and expanded data-center investments emblematic of this global capital trend.