Ares Management
A NYSE-listed global alternative asset manager and one of the largest direct lenders in the European mid-market, operating well above the UK lower-mid-market ticket range.
What they do
Ares Management is a global alternative asset manager with $644 billion AUM (March 2026), of which the Credit division accounts for approximately $407 billion. Its European Direct Lending platform — anchored by Ares Capital Europe (ACE) — is one of the largest institutional direct lending programmes in Europe, managing approximately $84.7 billion across around 100 professionals in seven offices including London. The platform lends senior-secured and unitranche facilities, typically as sole or lead lender, to established mid-market businesses across Europe. Since inception in 2007 the European business has completed approximately 380 investments totalling over €70 billion. The stated borrower criterion is EBITDA in excess of €10 million; Ares positions itself at the upper end of the mid-market and opportunistically into large-cap transactions.
Where they fit in a lower-mid-market raise
Ares is the right counterparty for a well-established business with EBITDA materially above €10 million (roughly £8–9 million at current rates) seeking a substantial senior or unitranche facility — typically tens of millions sterling at minimum, often well above £50 million. It is a credible choice for PE-backed buyouts and sizeable corporate acquisitions where the borrower wants a single large lender capable of holding a significant portion of the debt. Ares's scale and European infrastructure make it competitive on speed and certainty of execution for the right transaction.
Where they are not the fit
Ares does not serve the UK lower-mid-market in the £3–15 million facility range. Its stated EBITDA floor of €10 million excludes the large majority of businesses that Solon advises. Ares is structured to deploy hundreds of millions per transaction cycle; sub-£20 million facilities are not a viable match operationally or strategically. Businesses in the LMM with sub-£8 million EBITDA should look elsewhere.
Published terms
- Pricing
- Not published
- Speed to terms
- Not published
- EBITDA floor
- From about £8.5m
- Sponsored or sponsorless
- Sponsor-only (in practice)
- Where they lend
- Pan-European; 7 originating offices including. London (+ Frankfurt, Paris, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Madrid, Milan); UK core
- How they decide
- Internal investment committee; self-originated, bilateral or sole-or-lead lender; no broker panel
- Security
- A debenture over the company
- Covenants
- A loose covenant package
- Search funds and ETA
- No published route for search-fund or first-time acquirer borrowers
As published by the lender and last reviewed July 2026. Terms quoted on a deal are set by the credit, not by a published band.
What rules a deal out
Stated limits, taken from Ares Management’s own published criteria. A limit is where a lender starts from, not where it always ends: several of these move on a strong enough credit.
- Sub-€10m EBITDA borrowers
- Sponsorless or owner-managed
- Non-defensive or high-cyclicality sectors
- No appetite in adult, crypto, gambling or weapons
How they sit against the category
- Its published ceiling of £430m is the highest of the 46 private-credit funds in this directory.
- Like 31 of the 46, it publishes no indicative price — a margin comes from a conversation, not a page.
Counted across the 46 private-credit & direct-lending funds in this directory, on what each one publishes. What a lender discloses and what it will do are different things.
Questions this page answers
How large a facility does Ares Management write?
Published facilities run £17m to £430m. It looks for EBITDA from about £8.5m. A band is what a lender states it will do, not what it will do on a given credit.
What security does Ares Management take?
On the published terms, a debenture over the company. What a lender takes on a given facility is set in the documents, not by a published stance.
Does Ares Management lend to search funds or ETA buyers?
Not on the published evidence. Ares Management publishes no route for search-fund or first-time acquirer borrowers. A searcher's route to a lender usually runs through the quality of the target and the equity behind it.
Does Ares Management lend to companies without a private-equity sponsor?
Not on the published evidence. Ares Management lends alongside institutional equity or sponsor backing rather than to unbacked borrowers.
Where does Ares Management lend?
Pan-European; 7 originating offices including. London (+ Frankfurt, Paris, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Madrid, Milan); UK core.
On the record
Ares Management had $644 billion in total AUM as of 31 March 2026, with Credit AUM of approximately $406.9 billion as of 31 December 2025.
Ares Capital Europe VI (ACE VI) closed in January 2025 with €17.1 billion in LP commitments — above its €15 billion hard cap — giving approximately €30 billion in total available capital including leverage.
The European Direct Lending platform manages approximately $84.7 billion AUM with approximately 100 investment professionals across London, Paris, Frankfurt, Stockholm, Amsterdam and Madrid (as of 31 December 2025).
ACE VI targets companies with EBITDA in excess of €10 million; this threshold has been Ares's European floor since the franchise was established in 2007.
Since inception the European Direct Lending business has completed approximately 380 investments totalling over €70 billion.
Ares Management Limited is registered in England and Wales (Companies House number 05837428, incorporated 2006) and authorised by the FCA.
Ares Management UK Limited is separately registered in England and Wales (Companies House number 08708339, incorporated 27 September 2013).
Ares was named UK & Ireland Direct Lending Manager of the Year and Senior Debt Provider of the Year at the Debtwire Direct Lending Awards 2025, and European Senior Lender of the Year 2025 by Private Debt Investor.
Sources: aresmgmt.com · businesswire.com · alternativecreditinvestor.com
This profile is a curated reference note drawn from public sources, not financial advice or a recommendation. Appetite and terms change; a lender's fit for a given credit is established by approaching it, not inferred from a page.