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Item 3 — Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Acadian Asset Management Inc. · 10-Q · Q2 FY2026 · Period ended Jun 30, 2026
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Market Risk
Our exposure to market risk is directly related to our role as an asset manager. Substantially all of our investment management revenues are derived from our agreements with our clients. Under these agreements, the revenues we receive are based on the value of our assets under management or the investment performance on client accounts for which we earn performance fees. Accordingly, our revenues and net income may decline as a result of our assets under management decreasing due to depreciation of our investment portfolios. In addition, such depreciation could cause our clients to withdraw their funds in favor of investments offering higher returns or lower risk, which would cause our revenues and net income to decline further.
Our model for assessing the impact of market risk on our results uses June 30, 2026 ending AUM and management fee rates as the basis for management fee revenue calculations. With respect to performance fee revenue, we assume that relative investment performance is the same as in the past four quarters ended June 30, 2026. Therefore, market-driven changes in performance fees, which are typically based on relative performance versus market indices, reflect changes in the underlying AUM used in the calculation rather than differences in relative performance as a result of a changed market environment. The impact that market changes have on performance fee eligible accounts varies due to high-water marks and other measurement hurdles which are not factored in this analysis. Changes in performance fee revenues could be significant in each period. The basis for the analysis is performance fees earned for the twelve months ended June 30, 2026.
Our profit sharing economic structure, described more fully in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation—The Economics of Our Business,” results in a sharing of market risk between us and our employees. Approximately 44% of our ENI cost structure is variable, representing variable compensation and Acadian LLC key employee distributions. These variable expenses generally are linked in a formulaic manner to the profitability of the business after covering operating expenses, which include base compensation and benefits, general and administrative expenses, and depreciation and amortization. In modeling the impact of market risk, we assume that these operating expenses remain unchanged, but the resulting impact on profit driven by increases or decreases in revenue will change variable compensation and Acadian LLC key employee distributions in line with their formulaic calculations. Any change in pre-tax profit is tax-affected to calculate profit after tax.
The value of our assets under management was $232.7 billion as of June 30, 2026. A 10% increase or decrease in the value of our assets under management, if proportionally distributed over all of our investment strategies, asset classes and client relationships, would cause an annualized increase or decrease in our gross management fee revenues of approximately $75 million based on our effective weighted average fee rate of approximately 32 basis points in the most recent quarter. Approximately $28 billion, or 12%, of our AUM, are in accounts subject to performance fees. Of these assets, the majority are in accounts for which performance fees are calculated based on investment return that differs from the relative benchmark returns. Assuming the market change does not impact our relative performance, a 10% increase or decrease in AUM would have a $4 million impact to our gross performance fees based on our trailing twelve-month performance fees of $36 million as of June 30, 2026. The combined impact on our management fees and performance fees would have a direct impact on our earnings and result in an annual change of approximately $30 million in our post-tax economic net income. The analysis is based on our operating model, effective cost and fee structure in the quarter ended June 30, 2026.
Equity market risk, interest rate risk, and foreign currency risk are the market risks that could have the greatest impact on our management fees, performance fees and our business profitability. Impacts on our management and performance fees can be calculated based on the percentage of AUM constituting equity investments or foreign currency denominated investments, respectively, multiplied by the relevant weighted average management fee and performance fee attributable to that asset class.
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•Our equity markets-based AUM includes U.S., global, non-U.S. and emerging markets equities (including small cap through large cap securities). A 10% increase or decrease in equity markets would cause our approximately $232 billion of long-only equity assets under management to increase or decrease by $23 billion, resulting in a change in annualized management fee revenue of $75 million and an annual change in post-tax economic net income of approximately $28 million given our cost structure, operating model, and effective weighted average fee rates of 32 basis points at the current mix of strategies as of June 30, 2026. Approximately $28 billion, or 12%, of our equity markets-based AUM are in accounts subject to performance fees. Of these assets, the majority are in accounts for which performance fees are calculated based on investment return in excess of the relative benchmark returns. Assuming the market change does not impact our relative performance, a 10% change in equity markets would have an approximate incremental $1 million impact from performance fees on our post-tax economic net income. The analysis is based on our operating model, effective cost and fee structure in the quarter ended June 30, 2026.
•Foreign currency AUM includes equity assets denominated in foreign currencies. Assuming that all other factors remain constant, including client activity and asset flows and pricing, we estimate that a 10% increase or decrease in foreign exchange rates against the U.S. dollar would cause our $154 billion of foreign currency denominated AUM to increase or decrease by $15 billion, resulting in a change in annualized management fee revenue of $59 million and an annual change in post-tax economic net income of $22 million, based on effective weighted average fees earned on our foreign currency denominated AUM of 39 basis points at the mix of strategies as of June 30, 2026. Approximately $18 billion, or 12%, of our foreign currency denominated AUM are in accounts subject to performance fees. Of these assets, the majority are in accounts for which performance fees are calculated based on investment return that differs from the relative benchmark returns. Assuming the market change does not impact our relative performance, a 10% change in foreign currency exchange rates would have an approximate incremental $1 million impact from performance fees on our post-tax economic net income. The analysis is based on our operating model, effective cost and fee structure in the quarter ended June 30, 2026.
While the analysis above assumes that market changes occur in a uniform manner across the relevant portfolio, because of our declining fee rates for larger relationships and differences in our fee rates across asset classes, a change in the composition of our assets under management, in particular an increase in the proportion of our total assets under management attributable to strategies, clients or relationships with lower effective fee rates, could have a material negative impact on our overall weighted average fee rate.
As is customary in the asset management industry, clients invest in particular strategies to gain exposure to certain asset classes, which exposes their investment to the benefits and risks of such asset classes. We have not adopted a corporate-level risk management policy regarding client assets, nor have we attempted to hedge at the corporate level or within individual strategies the market risks that would affect the value of our overall assets under management and related revenues. Any reduction in the value of our assets under management would result in a reduction in our revenues.
Interest Rate Risk
We are exposed to interest rate risks primarily through borrowings under Acadian LLC’s revolving credit facility and Delayed Draw Term Loan. Interest on borrowings under the revolving credit facility and Delayed Draw Term Loan are based upon variable interest rates. There were no borrowings under the credit facility as of June 30, 2026. We currently do not hedge against interest rate risk. As of June 30, 2026, a hypothetical 10% change in interest rates would have resulted in an immaterial change to our interest expense during the six months ended June 30, 2026.
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