ICG’s Fee-Related Earnings Rise 18% to £198.6 Million

Key Facts

ICG said on Nov. 11 that fee-related earnings were £198.6 million, or 68 pence per share, in the six months ended Sept. 30, 2026, an 18% year-on-year increase. The measure was £168.0 million, or 58 pence per share, in the corresponding period of the previous financial year. Growth rose to 21% excluding transaction fees, showing that the increase in earnings continued even after that item was removed. The company links these recurring earnings to management fees and fee-earning assets, as it raised new capital during the half. It also announced an increase in its interim dividend, while saying its priority for surplus capital was to fund opportunities to grow fee-related earnings per share before returning it to shareholders.

Management fees were £373.7 million, up 12% from £333.6 million in the corresponding period, the company said. They included £41.0 million in transaction fees, up from £37.7 million a year earlier, an increase of 9%. The comparison shows transaction fees grew more slowly than total management fees, while fee-related earnings grew faster than management fees. The company therefore reported earnings growth of 18%, and a rate of 21% excluding transaction fees. This breakdown shows the contribution of recurring fees during the period, while keeping the effect of transaction fees visible in the reported results.

Assets under management reached $145 billion on Sept. 30, including $90 billion in fee-earning assets. ICG raised about $7.6 billion during the six months, and net additions to fee-earning assets were $4.7 billion. The company said these figures came during a period in which its Europe IX fund closed at €12 billion on Nov. 11. It added that the fund was oversubscribed and described it as the largest structured capital fund raised globally. The fund close puts fundraising in the context of growth in the fee-earning asset base, which is directly linked to the earnings measure the company said had increased.

The results were not limited to growth in fee-related earnings; the company also reported that group operating cash flow fell to £219 million in the first half of financial year 2027, from £467 million in the first half of financial year 2026. Net debt, meanwhile, was £93 million on Sept. 30, compared with £113 million at the end of financial year 2026. The company reported total available liquidity of £1.431 billion on the same date. It said it aimed to manage its capital structure around zero net debt over the medium term. It linked the return of surplus capital to shareholders to first funding opportunities to grow fee-related earnings per share.

ICG raised its interim dividend to 29.0 pence per share, from 27.7 pence in the corresponding period, and reaffirmed its progressive dividend policy. It set Dec. 3, 2026, as the ex-dividend date, with the ordinary dividend to be paid on Jan. 8, 2027. The move comes as the company says it aims to manage net debt around zero, with priority given to funding growth opportunities before returning surplus capital. The company thus combined an increase in its interim dividend with linking any additional capital returns to the development of opportunities to grow fee-related earnings per share. Its next scheduled update is a third-quarter trading statement on Jan. 20, 2027.

Chief Executive Benoît Durré said seven funds had closed at or above their targets over the previous two years. He added that global fundraising could record a year-on-year decline for a fifth consecutive year in 2026, placing the company’s results in a private-capital fundraising market he described as still challenging. He said ICG’s focus on long-term investment performance, rather than short-term asset gathering, was gaining increasing recognition from institutional clients. He said: "We are seeing increasing recognition from institutional clients of our focus on long-term investment performance rather than short-term asset gathering." His remarks reflect management’s link between investment performance and client relationships, alongside continued fundraising and fund closes.