Ares Management reported total assets under management of $545.9 billion as of March 31, a 27.5% jump from a year earlier.
Ares attributed this increase in AUM primarily to commitments to Ares Senior Direct Lending Fund III, Ares Capital Europe VI, as well as to “capital raised by our credit BDCs (business development companies), our open-ended European direct lending fund and APMF (Ares Private Markets Fund),” the firm said in a news release May 5.
Ares also noted in the news release that on March 1, the company completed its acquisition of the international business of GLP Capital Partners and certain of its affiliates, excluding its operations in Greater China, and existing capital commitments to certain managed funds, which increased AUM by $45.3 billion.
Compared with the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, AUM increased by 12.7%.
Specifically, Ares also noted it recorded $20.2 billion in gross new capital commitments in the first quarter, with more than half of those commitments ($10.7 billion) flowing into its private credit business.
“With a record amount of assets under management not yet paying fees of nearly $100 billion, we remain well positioned to make attractive investments in a volatile market environment,” said Jarrod Phillips, partner and chief financial officer, in the release. “We have a history of resilient growth during market dislocations as our management fee-centric and asset-light business model enables us to perform well through market cycles.”
During a call with analysts May 5, Ares executives discussed the ongoing impact of the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump in early April.
“Coming into the new year, the market was anticipating that the new administration's pro-growth, regulatory and tax policies would unlock a greater amount of M&A transactions,” said Michael Arougheti, co-founder and CEO. “However, anxiety and market volatility were building throughout the (first) quarter. And following the announcement of the April 2 tariffs and subsequent geopolitical events, the market entered a new phase of volatility and uncertainty over the ultimate outcome and impact of tariff policies.”
As such, he noted, “activity in the liquid credit and equity markets dropped significantly as most banks and liquid market investors moved to a risk position. Since then, the liquid markets have started to thaw, but they remain less predictable and highly selective.”
Fortunately for Ares, Arougheti added, “We have a record amount of dry powder, and we operate a large array of flexible private market strategies that can take advantage and gain share during periods of retrenchment.”
Given the uncertainty over the path of economic growth, he added: “We believe that we also benefit from being overweighed in assets that are senior to equity in the capital structure. We believe that these credit assets are more defensive and insulated from changes in cash flows and market values.”
Arougheti further said that “as we assess the quality of our corporate credit portfolios today, we believe that we are entering this period of uncertainty from a position of strength. The initial assessment of our portfolios reveals a limited direct exposure to changes in tariff rates. As a firm, we're more focused on domestic, middle-market service oriented businesses that tend to have less exposure to international markets and global supply chains.”
Arougheti also said that while Ares is “carefully monitoring any primary or second order impacts from tariffs, we are optimistic about our ability to navigate any issues that arise in the portfolio.”
He aid Ares continues to “believe that this is an opportune time for continued growth in our real-estate business. Tariffs should drive-up construction costs, which might constrain supply in markets that are already supply constrained. This, coupled with a decrease in cost of capital and lower interest rates should improve values of real estate held and spur transaction activity.”
