Ares Management Corporation

What does Ares Management own?
Ares manages investment funds rather than owning operating companies. Its vehicles hold loans, real estate, infrastructure assets, and private equity positions across thousands of investments. It sponsors non-traded funds including AREIT and AIREIT.

Is Ares Management publicly traded?
Yes. Ares Management Corporation trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker ARES. The company went public in May 2014.

Who founded Ares Management?
Ares was founded in 1997 in Los Angeles by Tony Ressler, Mike Arougheti, David Kaplan, John Kissick, and Bennett Rosenthal, a team with roots in Apollo Global Management and Merrill Lynch leveraged finance.

Where is Ares Management headquartered?
The firm is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, and operates more than 60 offices across North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East.

How much does Ares Management manage?
Ares reported approximately $690.6 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2026, with $416.4 billion in fee-paying AUM and $233.9 billion in perpetual capital.

Who owns Ares Management?
Ares is a public company owned by institutional and retail shareholders. Co-founders, led by executive chairman Tony Ressler, retain significant stakes, and CEO Mike Arougheti leads day-to-day operations.

What happened to Black Creek Industrial REIT?
Ares acquired Black Creek Group's US real estate advisory and distribution business in July 2021. Black Creek Industrial REIT IV was renamed Ares Industrial Real Estate Income Trust, and Black Creek Diversified Property Fund became Ares Real Estate Income Trust.

Ares was founded in Los Angeles in 1997 by Tony Ressler, Mike Arougheti, David Kaplan, John Kissick, and Bennett Rosenthal, a team that had worked together at Apollo Global Management and Merrill Lynch's leveraged finance division. The founders built the firm around distressed debt and private credit at a moment when banks were retreating from leveraged lending.

The firm expanded steadily through the 2000s, adding private equity and real estate capabilities. Its real estate platform grew through fund management and through acquisitions, including the 2013 purchase of AREA Property Partners, which established a serious real estate equity business.

Ares listed on the NYSE in May 2014 at $19 per share. The IPO gave the firm permanent capital to seed new strategies and acquire managers. Growth accelerated under Mike Arougheti, who became president in 2014 and CEO in 2018, as private credit expanded into a mainstream institutional asset class.

Strategic acquisitions filled capability gaps. The 2019 acquisition of Landmark Partners made Ares a top player in secondaries. In July 2021, Ares completed the purchase of Black Creek Group's US real estate investment advisory and distribution business, adding $11.6 billion of assets and two flagship non-traded REITs, which were renamed Ares Real Estate Income Trust and Ares Industrial Real Estate Income Trust. The deal also brought the wealth distribution channel that Ares has since built into a major growth engine.

Recent expansion has focused on Asia-Pacific and infrastructure. In 2021 Ares acquired the alternative credit business of AMP Capital, and it has continued building out infrastructure debt and digital infrastructure platforms. AUM passed $500 billion in 2025 and reached $690.6 billion by the third quarter of 2026, up 16% year over year, with fee-paying AUM of $416.4 billion and perpetual capital of $233.9 billion.

Ares has faced the standard scrutiny applied to private credit's rapid expansion, including regulatory questions about retail access to illiquid products and the valuation practices of non-traded vehicles. Investor law firms periodically investigate non-traded REIT share pricing and redemption terms across the category, including the former Black Creek funds Ares now manages. No material regulatory action against Ares itself has been publicly resolved to date.