Ares Management has rapidly grown its private wealth business to $40 billion in AUM, positioning itself as a top-tier player in a market once dominated by Blackstone.
The firm's growth was accelerated by the strategic acquisition of Black Creek, which provided a 75-person distribution team that has since doubled to 150 globally.
Ares is capitalizing on financial advisors' desire to diversify their clients' alternative asset allocations away from a single manager, projecting that 20% of its new capital will come from this channel by 2025.
The strategy focuses on a people-intensive, high-touch sales model to educate advisors on a curated portfolio of semi-liquid products centered on durable income, diversified private equity, and real assets.
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Concerns Raised
Building brand recognition to the level of more established competitors like Blackstone and KKR.
The highly resource-intensive nature of the private wealth channel requires significant and sustained investment in personnel.
Ensuring proper investor education to manage expectations around the semi-liquid nature of products, especially during market downturns.
Opportunities Identified
Capturing significant market share as financial advisors seek to diversify their alternative asset managers beyond Blackstone.
Tapping into the massive and growing demand for alternative investments from the mass affluent and private wealth segments.
Expanding capital-raising efforts globally, with Europe showing strong recent performance and Asia identified as a key future growth market.