Ares Management has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the entire outstanding share capital of BlueCove, a London-based systematic fixed income manager. Financial terms were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close in Q1/26, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.
Ares believes that, as part of its scaled investment platform, the BlueCove business will benefit from accelerated growth and expanded distribution relationships, particularly with insurance clients. Integrated within Ares, BlueCove will form the Ares Systematic Credit strategy and will focus on harnessing the power of data and technology to deliver differentiated returns and solutions to investors. Ares Systematic Credit will be led by Alex Khein, supported by a team of approximately 60 professionals, with Hugh Willis serving as a senior advisor to the organization.
“In recent years, we have seen increased interest in systematic credit investment products and capabilities from global investors as they seek to diversify their portfolios and capture the opportunities presented by the quantitative credit investment revolution,” Kipp deVeer, co-president of Ares, said. “This demand, paired with a broader structural shift towards systematic fixed income trading to achieve alpha, underlies the latest expansion of our market-leading credit group.”
Michael Smith, co-head of the Ares Credit Group, said, “Since first partnering with BlueCove, the business has grown from strength to strength, further solidifying our conviction about the future of systematic credit investing. Because of its high-quality talent, custom-built proprietary technology and successful existing relationship with Ares, we believe BlueCove is well-positioned to launch Ares Systematic Credit. We look forward to working closely with our new colleagues to build out our latest vertical within the credit group.”
Khein said, “Ares has been a fantastic supporter of BlueCove’s strategy over the last several years, facilitating a broad range of R&D initiatives across the firm, all housed within a world class infrastructure and control environment. This transaction is a testament to our and Ares’ shared culture of innovation, entrepreneurship and collaboration that has underpinned the relationship since the beginning. I am extremely proud of our team’s achievements over the years, and we look forward to working closely with Michael, Mitch and all our new colleagues at Ares to build out the systematic credit business.”
Willis said, “Ares is a world class asset manager that we greatly admire. Our strategy in first partnering with Ares in 2023, via a minority equity stake, was to accelerate BlueCove’s mission of bringing systematic fixed income investing to a global client base. The strategy has proved highly successful, as demonstrated by the growth of the business since then, and this transaction is the logical next step in its execution. I very much look forward to now helping develop Ares Systematic Credit as a market leading business in an area of the credit markets with considerable secular growth potential.”
