Ares Management Corporation announced it has raised about $7.1 billion for its Credit Secondaries strategy, including the final close of its inaugural Ares Credit Secondaries Fund, related vehicles, and anticipated leverage.
The firm said the fundraising included roughly $4 billion in limited partner equity commitments for the fund, which it said doubled its $2 billion target and marks Ares’ largest inaugural institutional fundraise to date. Ares also said it believes the vehicle is the largest dedicated institutional credit secondaries fund globally based on LP equity commitments.
Ares said the fund is designed to build a highly diversified portfolio of predominantly senior secured, private equity-backed, and floating-rate private credit portfolios. The strategy will seek to deploy capital across both LP-led secondary transactions and continuation vehicle deals, working alongside established managers and sponsors.
The fundraising comes as secondaries activity continues to expand across private markets as investors and managers look for liquidity options and portfolio management tools. Ares positioned the close as an extension of its broader Secondaries business, which it said has been built over decades and now spans multiple private market asset classes.
Ares said its Credit Secondaries effort is led by Dave Schwartz, the firm’s head of Credit Secondaries, alongside partners Sebastien Burdel, Chrissy Lamont Svejnar and Luca Salvato. The strategy sits within the Ares Secondaries Group, which the firm said has a track record of more than 30 years investing across private equity, real estate, infrastructure and credit, and managed $38 billion of assets as of Sept. 30, 2025.
Ares, a global alternative investment manager, said it oversaw more than $595 billion of assets under management as of Sept. 30, 2025, with operations across North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.
KEY QUOTES:
“The success of this milestone fundraise underscores our early-mover advantage in credit secondaries and the power of the Ares platform.”
Blair Jacobson, Co-President, Ares
“The final closing of ACS reflects the strength and market leadership of our Credit Secondaries strategy, which is supported by one of the largest purpose-built teams in the market.”
Dave Schwartz, Head of Credit Secondaries, Ares
