Research · Sep 3, 2026
[STEP] StepStone Compounds Private Markets Franchise Through AUM Growth And Fee-Related Earnings
StepStone Group Inc. is a New York, New York-headquartered private-markets investment firm that provides the investment solutions, the advisory, and the asset-management services to the institutional and related investors across the private-markets asset classes including the private equity, private credit, real estate, infrastructure, and related private-markets categories. The business is built around the provision of the private-markets investment solutions, managing and advising the capital for the clients across the private-markets asset classes through the separately managed accounts, the commingled funds, and the advisory arrangements, and drawing on a private-markets data and research capability. The revenue and the economics depend on the assets under management and advisement, the management and advisory fee rates, the fundraising and the deployment of the capital, the performance-related fees, and the operating efficiency of the platform. On selected various aggregate disclosure, the fiscal 2025 financial profile reflects total revenue derived from the management and advisory fees on the assets under management and advisement, an operating profile reflecting a private-markets asset-management and advisory business, and a balance-sheet position consistent with an established investment firm. The private-markets investment-solutions core franchise anchors revenue, supported by the managed and advised assets producing the fee revenue that scales with the level of assets, by the multi-asset-class platform spreading the exposure across the private-markets asset classes, and by the data and research capability supporting the investment solutions and client relationships. The multi-cycle private-markets AUM growth combined with the fee-related earnings drives the multi-year trajectory, with the AUM growth reflecting the trajectory of the assets under management and advisement through the fundraising and deployment, and the fee-related earnings reflecting the more stable and recurring management and advisory fee revenue net of the associated costs. Capital structure reflects the financing of an established investment firm, and a capital allocation framework focused on the dividend, the investment in the business, and the balance-sheet management. The bull case anchors on the private-markets platform, the AUM growth, and the fee-related earnings; the bear case anchors on the private-markets fundraising environment, the performance-fee variability, and the competitive dynamics of the private-markets industry.