Kirkland Advises Ares Management Corporation on its Fifth European Direct Lending Fund
Kirkland & Ellis advised Ares Management Corporation (“Ares”) (NYSE: ARES), a leading global alternative investment manager, on its fifth commingled European direct lending fund, Ares Capital Europe V (“ACE V”). ACE V recently held its final closing at a total fund size of €11.0 billion, representing the largest European direct lending fund raised to date. With strong investor support, ACE V surpassed its €9.0 billion target eight months after its launch and closed oversubscribed at its €11.0 billion hard cap. The final fund size represents an increase of approximately 70% versus the predecessor fund, Ares Capital Europe IV, which closed in July 2018 at its €6.5 billion hard cap and which was also oversubscribed. Including anticipated leverage, the total available capital for ACE V will be approximately €15.0 billion. ACE V also represents the largest institutional fund raised by Ares Management to date.
The Kirkland team was led by investment funds partners Stephanie Berdik and Sophie Smith, and included investment funds partner Jamie Lynn Walter and associates Kim Mai Nguyen, Jamie Thomson, Safal Ahluwalia, Anna Alexandrou, Josh Heavyside, Kristin Hanshaw and Bethany Fraker, tax partners Meredith Levy and Tim Lowe and associates Arash Lotfi, Art Ward, Loviisa Langdon and Frankie Beetham, employee benefits partner Liz Dyer, corporate associate John Jameson, and paralegals Andre Demetriou, Nicola Varakuta and Louis Payne.
