March 18, 2018
CION’s Joint Venture Partner, Ares Management, wins Private Debt Investor Fund Global Fund Manager of the Year, Lender of the Year (Americas) and Deal of the Year (Americas) Awards.
“We’re not the only global manager, but we’re one of only a few with really deep direct-lending capabilities in the US and Europe,” says Kipp deVeer, director and CEO of Ares Capital Corporation and partner and head of Ares Credit Group. “We got into direct lending early in both regions and we’ve remained very committed.”
In the year to September 2017, Ares had raised almost $7 billion in new equity and debt commitments across its US direct lending vehicles. It also – within the first few days of the new year – completed a ground-breaking strategic move when Ares Capital Corporation acquired American Capital, further increasing the size of the what is already the largest BDC in the US. In Europe, where the firm has been operating for 10 years, it saw its direct lending team pass the $10 billion mark in assets under management. The firm also showed its funding power by structuring a €310 million financing package for Dutch gaming company JVH.
Overall, the Ares credit platform had approximately $70.5 billion in assets under management at the end of September with $40.7 billion of direct lending AUM – $29 billion in the US and $11.7 billion in Europe. Its private direct lending funds in the US have more than tripled their AUM over a five-year period to around $9 billion as of the same date.
