Hamilton Lane (NASDAQ:HLNE) highlighted year-to-date growth in assets, fee-related results, and momentum in its semi-liquid Evergreen platform during its fiscal third-quarter 2026 earnings call, while also providing updates on fundraising, a newly closed strategic partnership with Guardian, and product positioning in the wealth channel.
Assets and year-to-date financial highlights
Management said the firm ended the quarter with a total asset footprint of over $1 trillion, up 6% year-over-year. Assets under management (AUM) were $146 billion, up $11 billion, or 8%, driven by both specialized funds and customized separate accounts. Assets under advisement (AUA) totaled $871 billion, up $50 billion, or 6%, which the company attributed primarily to market value growth and the addition of technology solutions and back-office mandates.
- Management and advisory fees up 11% year-over-year.
- Total fee-related revenue of $507 million, up 31% year-over-year, reflecting management fees plus fee-related performance revenue.
- Fee-related earnings (FRE) of $254.6 million year-to-date, up 37% year-over-year, with a 50% FRE margin versus 48% in the prior year period.
- GAAP EPS of $4.35 on $183 million of GAAP net income and non-GAAP EPS of $4.41 on $240.1 million of adjusted net income.
The company also declared a $0.54 per share quarterly dividend, which management said keeps it on track for a targeted $2.16 per share for fiscal year 2026, representing a planned 10% increase over the prior fiscal year.
Guardian partnership closes, with financial impacts expected next quarter
Co-CEO Erik Hirsch said Hamilton Lane’s strategic partnership with Guardian has officially closed and that work is underway. Under the agreement, Hamilton Lane will oversee nearly $5 billion of Guardian’s existing private equity portfolio, with those assets expected to be reflected in the firm’s total asset footprint beginning next quarter.
Hirsch added that Hamilton Lane expects to receive additional annual commitments of approximately $500 million for at least 10 years, spanning primary, secondary, and co-investment strategies, including support for the firm’s global Evergreen platform. He said the partnership includes at least $250 million to be invested in Hamilton Lane’s Evergreen funds.
CFO Jeff Armbrister said the initial economic impacts of the partnership are expected to be recognized in fiscal Q4 2026. He also noted the associated warrant package is expected to result in less than 1% dilution based on the fully diluted share count as of Dec. 31, 2025, and that more details are available in prior filings and the upcoming 10-Q.
Fee-earning AUM mix continues shifting toward specialized funds
Hirsch reported total fee-earning AUM of $79.1 billion, up $8.1 billion, or 11%, year-over-year, with net quarter-over-quarter growth of $2.7 billion, or 4%. He said growth has been driven largely by specialized funds, particularly the firm’s semi-liquid Evergreen products.
Hamilton Lane’s blended fee rate was 67 basis points, which Hirsch said has benefited from the continuing mix shift into higher-fee specialized funds. The fee-earning mix was 52% customized separate accounts and 48% specialized funds. Hirsch said the blended fee rate is 10 basis points, or 18%, higher than when the company went public in 2017.
Fundraising updates: secondaries, venture, direct equity, infrastructure, and credit
Specialized fund fee-earning AUM ended fiscal Q3 at $38.1 billion, up $6.9 billion, or 22%, over the last 12 months, with quarter-over-quarter net growth of $2.4 billion, or 7%. Hirsch attributed much of the quarter’s increase to the Evergreen platform, combining net new flows and net asset value appreciation, along with some Evergreen assets shifting from non-fee-earning to fee-earning status.
On fundraising, Hirsch said the firm expects first closes for its seventh secondary fund and its second venture access product sometime in the second calendar quarter of 2026. He referenced the firm’s sixth secondary fund, which raised $5.6 billion, and said Hamilton Lane believes it can manage increasingly larger pools of capital in secondaries and venture.
In direct equity, Hirsch said the sixth Equity Opportunities Fund held additional closes totaling nearly $300 million during the quarter and another close of approximately $500 million in January. The fund stood at over $2.3 billion, surpassing the prior fund’s $2.1 billion. The fund’s management fee mix was roughly 35% on committed capital and 65% on net invested, with a final close expected “over the coming months.” Armbrister noted that year-to-date retro fees were lower than the prior year period, with $2 million in the current year-to-date period stemming primarily from the latest direct equity fund, compared to $21 million in the prior year period tied to a specialized fund final close.
In infrastructure, Hirsch said the firm announced the final close of its second infrastructure fund, raising nearly $2 billion in total capital in and alongside the fund, including over $1.5 billion into the fund and nearly $400 million alongside related vehicles. Hirsch said the strategy was over 40% committed as of Dec. 31.
In credit, Hirsch said the company held the final close for the ninth series of its annual Strategic Opportunities fund, raising $527 million, and that this would be the final series in that franchise. He said Hamilton Lane is reshaping its closed-end credit lineup toward more segmented offerings and a more traditional multi-year fundraising cadence, while keeping management fee dynamics unchanged (fees charged on a net invested basis and becoming fee-earning as capital is deployed). Hirsch said the firm manages nearly $4 billion in fee-earning credit AUM across closed-end and Evergreen vehicles.
Evergreen inflows, wealth channel commentary, and technology investment
Hirsch said the Evergreen platform generated over $1.2 billion of net inflows during the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2025, and ended the period with over $16 billion of AUM, representing over 70% year-over-year growth. The core multi-strategy private markets Evergreen fund ended 2025 at over $11.7 billion of AUM. He also highlighted the international credit Evergreen fund surpassing $2 billion in AUM, with a since-inception net annualized return of over 9.5% and positive monthly performance throughout calendar 2025, and said the company remains on track to introduce a U.S.-registered counterpart in the coming months. Hirsch added that the Infrastructure Evergreen and Secondaries Evergreen offerings are both approaching $1 billion in AUM.
In Q&A, Hirsch said the company launched “a lot of product” in calendar 2025 but does not expect the same volume of new product launches in 2026, with an emphasis instead on scaling existing offerings. He also said the firm is not seeing elevated redemption behavior from institutions in Evergreen funds, describing institutional demand as driven more by ease of use and portfolio construction flexibility than by liquidity alone.
Hirsch also discussed exit conditions, saying distribution activity has been picking up as buyers and sellers move toward price equilibrium and as assets mature, and he expects 2026 to be a stronger exit environment than calendar 2025. On secondaries, he characterized the market as still “massively undercapitalized” relative to transaction demand and said Hamilton Lane has “a whole lot of runway” to grow.
Separately, Hirsch highlighted a Hamilton Lane Innovations investment in Pluto Financial Technologies, describing Pluto as an AI-driven platform designed to connect to private market portfolios and provide access to credit without forcing asset sales or reliance on multiple intermediaries, positioning it as a potential liquidity tool for investors.
About Hamilton Lane (NASDAQ:HLNE)
Hamilton Lane is a global private markets investment management firm specializing in the full spectrum of private equity and credit strategies. The company partners with institutional investors and wealth managers to design, implement and manage customized portfolios in primary fund investing, secondary market transactions and direct co-investment opportunities. By combining investment selection, portfolio construction and ongoing monitoring, Hamilton Lane seeks to optimize risk-adjusted returns across diverse private markets exposures.
Founded in 1991, Hamilton Lane has developed a track record of investment and advisory services in private markets.
