Ares二季度旗舰信贷基金募资创三年来最高，AUM略高于预期但管理费低于预期

Ares secures biggest flagship credit fund commitments for three years
Private credit group Ares Management shrugged off market turmoil to secure the highest level of commitments to its flagship credit funds since 2023, with institutional investors giving their backing to funds from one of the sector’s biggest operators.
Ares drew in $12.9bn of equity commitments to its credit funds in the three months to the end of June, up more than 40 per cent from a year ago. Coupled with leverage the firm uses to magnify its returns, the credit unit raised a better than expected $23.7bn of capital.
The fundraising figures were bolstered by a strong reception to Ares’ latest $8.5bn esoteric credit fund, and point to enduring institutional demand as the firm markets its latest flagship direct lending fund to pensions and sovereign wealth funds.
Shareholders and analysts are watching closely for signs of the durability of that appetite as giants across the industry tap investors for their latest marquee vintages. Ares, Apollo, Blackstone and BlackRock’s HPS Investment Partners are all seeking to raise big funds.
The industry has been buffeted over the past year, as fears over the health of the private credit market and declining returns sparked an exodus by retail investors.
Those individual investors had piled into the asset class in recent years in search of higher returns, providing groups such as Ares and Blue Owl with tens of billions of dollars of firepower to deploy — as well as lucrative management fees to expand their own businesses.
Many funds, including Ares’ vehicle pitched to wealthy individuals, continue to limit redemption requests as they work through a queue of investors looking to withdraw.
That has sharpened the focus on demand from large institutions and newer retail-focused infrastructure and private-equity funds, as investors search for evidence that fundraising challenges are improving.
Ares has pushed to diversify its business away from its core private credit franchise, buying the international arm of real estate investment manager GLP Capital Partners last year. The FT reported earlier this week that the group had held discussions recently about an acquisition of the private equity specialist Leonard Green.
Ares said it landed $22.2bn of equity commitments across all its fund types in the quarter, a number that jumps to $36.4bn when including leverage. The firm garnered $6.7bn for its real-asset strategy, which invests in property and infrastructure, and $1.3bn for its secondaries platform.
Overall, assets under management swelled to $671bn, slightly ahead of Wall Street forecasts.
Ares chief executive Michael Arougheti characterised it as a “record quarter of fundraising” and said the firm was seeing a “meaningful pick-up” in its investment pipeline as it looks to put $170bn of dry powder to work.
Management fees rose 14 per cent from a year earlier to $1.03bn, slightly below forecasts. Fee-related earnings, a metric closely watched on Wall Street, rose by a fifth to $491mn.