Ares Management, an alternative investment manager, closed its Ares Special Opportunities Fund. The fund was significantly oversubscribed at more than $3.5 billion of commitments relative to its $2 billion target.
When Scott Graves joined Ares’ private equity group in 2017, the company began developing its special opportunities strategy as an expansion of its flexible capital investment activities. These efforts included building out a team of 17 professionals, including partners Craig Snyder and Aaron Rosen, with a goal of leveraging the Ares platform. The team pursues a differentiated strategy that pivots opportunistically between private and public market sourced opportunities and seeks to partner with management teams by embracing an “activist for good” approach.
The Ares Special Opportunities Fund attracted interest from more than 70 limited partners from North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and investors included pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, endowments, family offices and private banks. Approximately half of the investors had previously invested in another Ares fund and this group of limited partners accounted for more than 80% of the fund’s committed capital.
“We appreciate the enthusiasm of our investors who have supported us in the launch of our special opportunities strategy,” Michael Arougheti, CEO and president of Ares, said. “The success of the ASOF launch exemplifies our ability to create new, differentiated strategies by assembling top talent and providing them access to the knowledge, networks and resources of our extensive platform. This has proven to be a significant fundraising quarter for the Ares private equity group. Due to a demonstrated ability to capitalize on market volatility, the group has attracted meaningful capital from existing relationships and new investors for its investment activities.”
“The strong support from my private equity colleagues and the entire Ares organization has enabled us to pursue our vision for a flexible stressed/distressed strategy that we believe positions us well across different market environments,” Graves, who is partner and co-head of Ares’ private equity group and head of special opportunities, said. “We believe the significant distressed investing expertise, industry coverage and company sponsorship capabilities within our private equity group combined with the global market leadership in direct lending and liquid credit from our credit group puts us at a significant advantage in investing across private and public situations.”
The fund’s $1.7 billion of invested and committed capital to date is split almost evenly between private and public situations.
Ares Management is an alternative investment manager operating integrated businesses across credit, private equity and real estate.
