Ares Raises $31 Billion in Third Quarter, Expects Record Fundraising Year as GAAP Profit Falls

Ares Management raised $31.0 billion from investors in the third quarter and said it expects another record year of fundraising, even as a sharp drop in carried interest pulled its GAAP earnings down to $0.21 per share from $1.15 a year earlier.

The alternative asset manager reported after-tax realized income of $449.6 million, or $1.26 per share of Class A common stock, up from $425.8 million, or $1.19 per share, according to its earnings release and presentation filed with an 8-K on Wednesday evening. Fee related earnings rose 11% to $524.2 million.

GAAP net income attributable to Ares Management Corporation fell to $85.3 million from $288.9 million. Carried interest allocation revenue dropped to $161.7 million from $464.7 million, and the company booked $147.4 million of net realized and unrealized losses on investments, compared with a $188.4 million gain a year earlier.

Fundraising stays strong

"We continue to expect another record year in fundraising with visibility for a strong fourth quarter, driven by sustained demand in our global institutional and wealth channels," CEO Michael Arougheti said in the release. He noted that more than half of the quarter's inflows came from outside the firm's Credit Group.

Net inflows of capital totaled $28.6 billion, and Ares deployed $34.8 billion, including $18.4 billion by its drawdown funds. Deployment was down from $41.7 billion in the third quarter of 2025, according to the presentation.

Assets climb toward $700 billion

Total assets under management reached $690.6 billion at Sept. 30, up about $95 billion from a year earlier, while fee-paying AUM stood at $416.4 billion. Credit AUM grew 14% and Real Assets AUM rose 22%, while Private Equity AUM slipped 2% primarily on distributions from its ACOF V fund.

Management fees rose to $1,057.1 million from $971.8 million on a GAAP basis. The fee related earnings margin widened to 42.5% from 41.4%.

Ares also has $93.8 billion of AUM not yet paying fees that is available for future deployment. "We also have substantial embedded growth from capital already raised but not yet earning fees," CFO Jarrod Phillips said, adding that the company is positioned "to meet or exceed our key financial objectives for 2026."

Dividend and a BDC deal

The board declared a quarterly dividend of $1.35 per share on Class A and non-voting common stock, payable Dec. 31 to holders of record on Dec. 17. It also declared $0.84375 per share on its 6.75% Series B mandatory convertible preferred stock, payable Jan. 1, 2027.

The presentation also flagged that on Oct. 26, Ares Capital Corporation, a business development company Ares manages, agreed to acquire MidCap Financial Investment Corporation in a stock-and-cash transaction with a total enterprise value of about $2.6 billion. A subsidiary of Ares will provide the cash portion of the consideration.

Year to date

For the first nine months of 2026, after-tax realized income per share rose 15% to $3.79 from $3.31, and fee related earnings climbed 19% to $1,479.7 million.

Sources

1. Ares Management Form 8-K with third-quarter 2026 earnings release and earnings presentation (Exhibits 99.1 and 99.2), filed Oct. 28, 2026 (accession 0001628280-26-067994)

This article is for informational and educational purposes only and is not investment advice. It is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.

Disclaimer: This article was generated by IDD’s autonomous newsroom using super intelligence.