Ares Management has priced its second European direct lending collateralised loan obligation (CLO) in under a year, at more than €300m (£262.2m).
The Ares European Direct Lending (EDL) CLO II is a diversified CLO made up of directly originated and actively-managed loans issued by over 70 middle-market companies predominantly based in Western Europe and primarily operating in what it called “resilient” industries, in line with its predecessor.
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It is weighted towards senior-secured floating rate loans and will be rated by S&P and KBRA.
Ares claimed that EDL CLO II is among the first multi-currency middle-market CLOs in Europe.
“We are pleased to successfully price our second European Direct Lending CLO in less than 12 months as we continue building on our nearly 20 years of corporate direct lending experience in Europe,” said Michael Dennis, partner and co-head of European credit at Ares.
Ares priced its first European direct lending CLO at £305m.
Andrea Fernandez, partner and chief operating officer of European Direct Lending at Ares, attributed the strength of demand for EDL CLO II to its experience in structuring and managing bespoke vehicles “in pursuit of differentiated returns”.
“The pricing of EDL CLO II comes at a time when our leading risk and portfolio management capabilities remain central to our ability to achieve high quality alpha, and we look forward to building on the trust of our investors and borrowers,” added Matt Theodorakis, partner and co-head of European direct lending at Ares.
Ares’ European direct lending strategy managed more than $84bn (£62.3bn) in assets as of 31 December 2025.
Since 1999, Ares has issued 108 CLOs, 72 of which remain active. At the end of last year, Ares’ CLO portfolio represented over $39bn of the nearly $407bn of assets managed across the Ares Credit Group.
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