Ares Raises Over $7 Billion For Credit Secondaries Strategy, Doubling Target

Ares Management Corporation said it has raised approximately $7.1 billion of capital for its Credit Secondaries strategy, inclusive of the final closing of its inaugural Ares Credit Secondaries Fund (ACS), affiliated vehicles and anticipated leverage. With approximately $4 billion in LP equity commitments, the Fund doubled its $2 billion target and represents Ares' largest inaugural institutional fundraise, the alternative investment manager said Tuesday in a press release. Through ACS, Ares aims to construct a diversified portfolio of predominantly senior secured, private equity-backed and floating-rate private credit portfolios by allocating across LP-led and continuation vehicle transactions in collaboration with asset managers, according to the release. “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 of Ares, said in the statement. “As investors' liquidity needs evolve, we will continue to develop innovative GP and LP solutions that leverage our decades of investment experience and extensive relationship networks." Dave Schwartz, Head of Credit Secondaries at Ares, added, "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. Our business combines Ares' multi-decade credit and secondaries experience and global scale to employ a disciplined investment approach, underpinned by our focus on diversification and downside protection. We are excited to execute on our significant pipeline in a rapidly growing and attractive market opportunity." Alongside Schwartz, the Ares Credit Secondaries strategy is led by partners Sebastien Burdel, Chrissy Lamont Svejnar and Luca Salvato and is part of the Ares Secondaries Group, which has established a more than 30-year track record investing across private equity, real estate, infrastructure and credit and managed $38 billion of assets as of Sept. 30, 2025. Ares global platform had over $595 billion of assets under management, with operations across North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East as of the same time period. Photo: Shutterstock