Ares Management’s assets under management totaled $86.9 billion as of March 31, up 6.2% from three months earlier and up 12.8% from a year earlier.
The company attributed the increase in AUM during the first quarter to the acquisition of Energy Investors Funds, which accounted for $4.6 billion in assets, and net new commitments totaling $3 billion.
Of the new fund commitments, $1.4 billion was from equity commitments to the tradable credit group’s alternative funds; $700 million in commitments to the direct lending group’s funds; and $613 million and $288 million, respectively, in debt and equity commitments to the tradable credit group’s long-only credit funds.
Those commitments were offset by $1.4 billion in gross distributions, of which $570 million was attributable to the tradable credit group, $373 million to the private equity group, $261 million to the real estate group and $203 million to the direct lending group.
Management fee revenues totaled $163.3 million in the three months ended March 31, up 1.4% from the previous quarter and 16.1% from the first quarter of 2014.
Economic net income totaled $82.9 million in the first quarter, compared to $64.7 million in the fourth quarter and $77.4 million in the first quarter of 2014.