Check out your Company Bowl for anonymous work chats.
We are proud to share that Ares European Direct Lending won the Investment Strategy of the Year category at the eighth annual Insurance Asset Management Awards. Ares was selected by senior industry leaders for outstanding achievement that has garnered both strong financial performance and alignment with the strategy’s key objectives. Ares’ Co-Head of European Credit Mike Dennis took the stage earlier in the day to discuss what we believe is next for European private credit before the team joined the evening ceremony.
Each year, Ares holds a series of Market Insights events around the world, meeting with investors and spotlighting the breadth of the team’s insights both locally and globally. Since September, colleagues and investors have gathered across the U.S., Europe and Asia; last week, the series culminated in Tokyo with the official opening of Ares’ new office—a milestone that underscores the growing private markets opportunity in Japan.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Ares Capital Corporation, ARCC, the longstanding vehicle for Ares’ U.S. Direct Lending strategy. The team recently gathered at Nasdaq to celebrate two decades of growth as the largest publicly-traded BDC by market cap. Thanks to our more than 480K investors, lenders and partners for their support over the years and cheers to continued success in the years to come!
In celebration of #LunarNewYear and the Year of the Snake, Ares, KKR and AlixPartners hosted a joint event to honor the significance of the holiday—a time for renewal, unity and shared aspirations—and kick off the new year by reinforcing our shared values of togetherness, collaboration and the strength of diverse perspectives. A few photos from last week's event below.
Today, we are excited to announce key leadership appointments across Ares Management and Ares Capital Corporation (ARCC). Kipp deVeer and Blair Jacobson, senior leaders within the Ares Credit Group, have been appointed Co-Presidents of Ares Management, effective immediately, where they will work alongside CEO Michael Arougheti to drive firm-wide strategic initiatives. In addition, Kort Schnabel, Partner and Co-Head of Ares U.S. Direct Lending, has been named incoming CEO of ARCC, effective April 30th. We are thrilled to congratulate Kipp, Blair and Kort—respected leaders at Ares and across the industry—on these significant appointments.
Ares is proud to share that Bill Benjamin, Co-Head of Ares Real Estate, has been named to Private Equity News’ Twenty Most Influential in Real Estate 2025 list. Bill joined Ares through the firm’s acquisition of Area Property Partners and was promoted to Global Head of Real Estate shortly thereafter. He now serves as Co-Head of Ares Real Estate alongside his longtime business partner Julie Solomon. In his 12 years at Ares, Bill has helped build the firm’s real estate business to its now $58B in AUM, as of yesterday's earnings call, and Co-Chairs Ares Industrial Real Estate Trust, is a member of Ares’ executive committee and is the incoming Chair of Impetus, a private equity charity helping young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Congratulations on this recognition, Bill!
We are proud to share that Ares placed 51st on Forbes’ inaugural list of America’s Best Companies. We were ranked based on a wide-ranging assessment of over 2,000 public companies headquartered in the U.S. across 60 key metrics spanning 11 primary categories. Since Ares' founding, we have prioritized culture, investor relationships and financial performance and we are proud to be ranked in the top 3% of qualifying companies across these important areas. More on the methodology behind this ranking and the complete list of featured companies here:
A lot is said about the strength of our culture, so we asked Ares’ co-founders and leaders to define it in their own words. Watch their full conversation:
Since opening Ares’ Mumbai office in 2019, we have built a strong presence on the ground covering a number of key business functions. Below, meet a few members of our team who share their experience at the firm and highlight the impact of Ares’ culture.
We are proud to share that Matthew Eid-Holm, Principal in Ares Infrastructure Opportunities, has been featured on Business Insider’s list of Wall Street’s Rising Stars of 2024, an annual ranking of executives shaping the future of finance. Read Matthew’s full interview for more on his experience with digital assets, including the development of modern data centers, and how his role has grown and scaled through the proliferation of computing power, storage demand and commercialized artificial intelligence:
