Ares Management Corporation, a leading global alternative investment manager, announced today the launch of Ares European Strategic Income Fund (“AESIF”), a new open-ended direct lending fund that will provide individual investors in Europe and Asia with access to Ares’ European direct lending strategy.
Ares launched its European direct lending strategy in 2007 gaining a first mover advantage in a nascent market. Since this time, the European direct lending strategy has deployed more than €56 billion ($61 billion) in capital, cementing a longstanding and cycle-tested track record. Today, Ares represents the largest direct lending solutions provider to the European market with over €55 billion ($60 billion) of assets under management dedicated to the strategy and more than 85 investment professionals across six originating offices in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Stockholm, Amsterdam and Madrid, as of June 30, 2023.
AESIF will be the latest addition to the Ares Wealth Management Solutions (“AWMS”) platform and will be its first offering in the Europe and Asia regions. Leveraging the strength and scale of Ares’ leading global private credit platform and its extensive experience in Europe, AESIF has been designed to deliver a highly diversified portfolio comprised predominantly of directly originated, senior secured floating rate loans to performing businesses in Western Europe. AESIF is intended to offer investors a core income-solution with meaningful downside protection and stable yields in a format that features lower investment minimums relative to traditional alternative investment products.
“The expansion of our wealth product offering reflects Ares’ ongoing commitment to delivering enhanced investment solutions and client services to our rapidly growing base of global individual investors,” said Raj Dhanda, Partner and Global Head of Wealth Management. “With products spanning the real estate, private credit and private equity secondaries asset classes, we look forward to continuing to develop new offerings and remain committed to bringing Ares’ institutional quality private investment solutions to the wealth channel globally.”
“As a pioneer in European direct lending with more than 15 years of experience investing on behalf of institutional investors, we are excited to bring the power of Ares’ origination and execution capabilities to individual investors,” said Blair Jacobson, Partner and Co-Head of European Credit. “We believe that the current market opportunity is one of the most exciting we have seen in years and that our leadership position as a well-capitalized, global platform provides us with competitive advantages in sourcing and managing investments in order to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns on behalf of our investors.”
“This is an exciting step in providing global access to Ares’ market leading investment strategies,” said Mark Serocold, Partner and Head of Wealth Management Solutions EMEA. “We are pleased to launch AESIF, which builds on the strength of our European direct lending strategy and to create broader access to our established product suite for individual investors in Europe and Asia.”
Since the launch of AWMS in 2021, Ares has remained focused on scaling its wealth platform to deliver private market access and education to financial advisors and their clients. With a growing team of over 130 professionals located in offices throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia, AWMS represents one of the most resourced wealth distribution and client service platforms in the alternatives industry today.
About Ares Management Corporation
Ares Management Corporation (NYSE: ARES) is a leading global alternative investment manager offering clients complementary primary and secondary investment solutions across the credit, private equity, real estate and infrastructure asset classes. We seek to provide flexible capital to support businesses and create value for our stakeholders and within our communities. By collaborating across our investment groups, we aim to generate consistent and attractive investment returns throughout market cycles. As of June 30, 2023, Ares Management Corporation's global platform had approximately $378 billion of assets under management, with over 2,600 employees operating across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. For more information, please visit www.aresmgmt.com.
Ares Wealth Management Solutions
As a global brand of Ares Management Corporation, Ares Wealth Management Solutions oversees the product development, distribution, marketing and client management activities of investment offerings for the global wealth management channel. AWMS’ mission is to provide advisors and their clients access to innovative, solutions-oriented investment opportunities across Ares’ platform of industry leading primary and secondary strategies across the credit, private equity, real estate and infrastructure asset classes. Through its range of institutional and retail structures, coupled with excellent client service and educational resources, AWMS helps investors diversify their portfolios with private market solutions that seek to deliver consistent, long-term growth. For more information, please visit www.areswms.com.