Ares tops $9.8bn for opportunistic credit strategy

Ares has raised over $9.8bn (£7.4bn) for its opportunistic credit strategy following the final close of its third fund in the space.

The global alternatives manager, which oversees $623bn in assets under management, announced the close of Ares Special Opportunities Fund III with more than $8.3bn in equity commitments, exceeding both its target and the size of its prior vintage fund.

According to Ares, the final close brings the total capital raised for its opportunistic credit strategy to $9.8bn.

“We believe current market volatility is contributing to a pipeline of attractive relative value opportunities for managers with the discipline to invest across private and public companies and experience delivering liquidity solutions,” said Craig Snyder, co-head of opportunistic credit.

Ares said its opportunistic credit strategy provides private debt, equity and hybrid solutions to middle-market companies, helping to fill the gap between control-focused private equity and more traditional corporate lending. The fund also opportunistically purchases stressed public corporate credits.

Since inception, the Ares opportunistic credit strategy has deployed more than $17bn and generated over $11bn of realised proceeds, while the firm’s credit assets overall total around $405bn.

“For nearly 10 years, we have scaled our opportunistic credit platform to deliver bespoke capital solutions to a broad set of middle-market businesses, and we look forward to continuing to execute on our strategy for the benefit of our portfolio companies and limited partners,” said Aaron Rosen, co-head of opportunistic credit.