Ares Management completed its previously disclosed acquisition of Landmark Partners, an investor in acquiring secondary private fund ownership stakes in the alternative asset management industry.
With more than $19.6 billion in assets under management as of March 31, Landmark Partners provides private equity, real estate and infrastructure secondaries solutions for institutional investors. A team of 150 professionals located in six offices across the U.S., Europe and Asia leads Landmark Partners, which was founded in 1989 and has developed an investor base of more than 600 institutional investors. With its investment experience and network of financial sponsors and institutional LPs, Landmark Partners is a partner for secondary market transactions. Over the past three decades, the company has sourced more than 2,400 transactions with more than 800 financial sponsors.
“We are excited to complete our combination with Landmark, which immediately brings us scale and extensive capabilities in the attractive and growing global secondaries market,” Michael Arougheti, CEO and president of Ares Management, said. “We believe the secondaries industry is at an inflection point for growth and we believe the combination of Landmark’s market leadership with our global platform of sponsor and client relationships will further enhance this growth opportunity and provide competitive advantages. We look forward to capitalizing on the many benefits this transaction offers, including the opportunity to meaningfully expand secondary solutions into other alternative asset classes, and we couldn’t be more enthusiastic about partnering with the Landmark team.”
Landmark will now operate in a newly formed Ares investment group named secondary solutions and will be branded “Landmark Partners, an Ares company.” Francisco Borges and Timothy Haviland will oversee the new secondary solutions group as co-heads.
“We are very pleased to finalize this transaction between our two leading investment platforms,” Borges said. “We believe the combination of Landmark’s leadership in the secondaries market and Ares’ significant global sponsor and investor networks will provide product and fundraising opportunities that will accelerate the growth of our new secondary solutions group.”
“We have known the Ares leadership team for many years and view them as an ideal partner for the exciting opportunities ahead for our industry,” Haviland said. “The Ares and Landmark teams share similar values and the same commitment to building a collaborative and entrepreneurial workplace. I look forward to partnering with our new colleagues as we execute on our strategic plans.”
