Ares pulls in $3.6B for one of private credit's biggest secondaries funds
What's the deal? Ares ManagementDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has raised $3.6 billion (€3.3 billion) for its newest credit secondaries fund, one of the largest-ever transactions in the market for second-hand credit stakes, BloombergDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → reported. Coller EQT led the round, which closed in early November.
How it works: The vehicle is a continuation fund, shifting 24 assets from an older Ares direct lending fund into a new vehicle that raises fresh cash. That gives investors in the original fund a way to cash out when deal activity is slow.
The numbers: The loan portfolio comes from Ares Capital Europe Fund IV, which closed with €6.5 billion in 2018. Investors in that older fund received roughly 150% of their initial investment, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Why now? Most credit secondary deals are driven by managers raising continuation funds to hold onto loans made to private equity-owned companies stuck in an M&A trough. These vehicles offer liquidity while letting managers keep selected portfolios.
The signal: The raise shows Ares scaling beyond traditional lending into liquidity solutions. Private-credit secondaries volume hit $20 billion in the first half of 2026 — already above the full-year 2025 total, per NEPC — and this fund is a marker of that momentum.
Read more: msn.com
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