Ares Management, one of the biggest names in private credit, reported a record fundraising of $36 billion in the second quarter, as institutions continued allocating to the asset class.
Strong Fund Performance
Top asset managers have pointed to broad-based demand from institutional investors despite negative headlines around private credit in recent months, helping cushion a slowdown in the wealth channel. Ares has broadened its investor base, with the number of direct institutional investors more than tripling since 2019.
“Clients continue to reward us due to our strong and consistent fund performance across our strategies,” CEO Michael Arougheti said. Inflows were led by the credit segment, which drew $23.7 billion during the quarter. The real assets division raised $9.7 billion.
Major fundraising included Ares’ flagship asset-based finance fund, which raised $8.5 billion in the quarter. Assets under management jumped 17% to $671.3 billion, while fee-related earnings rose 20% to $491.1 million from a year ago.
Investment Pipeline
Ares struck an optimistic tone about the road ahead as it sits on a record investment pipeline. “Our diverse global origination platform enabled us to remain active investing in attractive opportunities across the platform in a slower transaction environment and we are now seeing a meaningful pickup in our firmwide investment pipeline,” Arougheti said.
Ares deployed $35.9 billion of capital in the quarter, driven by its U.S. and European direct lending, real estate and alternative credit strategies. Among the notable deals in the quarter, Ares led a more than $1.7 billion debt financing supporting buyout firm KSL Capital Partners’ acquisition of private clubs operator Invited Clubs.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
