Ares Management has closed its latest flagship US direct lending fund at $10 billion, exceeding its $8.5 billion target and marking the firm's largest single vehicle in the strategy to date.
Insurance balance sheets and sovereign wealth funds together committed more than half of the total, continuing a multi-year trend of large, patient-capital LPs displacing traditional fund-of-funds and pension allocators at the margin.
Deployment plan
The fund will originate senior secured loans to US middle-market companies with EBITDA of $25 million to $150 million, targeting a net return of SOFR plus 550 to 650 basis points.
Ares now manages more than $130 billion across its direct lending platform, second only to Blackstone among listed alternative managers.