Ares Management Corporation announced the pricing of its first European Direct Lending Collateralized Loan Obligation (?CLO?), Ares European Direct Lending CLO 1, at £305 million. Ares believes this is the first reinvesting CLO in the European Direct Lending market and is one of the first direct lending CLOs issued in Europe. Ares European Direct Lending CLO 1 is a diversified CLO comprised entirely of directly originated and actively managed loans issued by over 50 middle-market companies based in the United Kingdom, primarily operating in defensive industries.
The CLO, which is weighted towards senior-secured floating rate loans, will be rated by S&P and KBRA. Ares? European Direct Lending strategy comprises approximately 95 investment professionals operating across seven offices in Europe and manages over $77 billion in assets as of March 31, 2025.
Since its inception in 2007, the European Direct Lending business has completed over 390 investments totaling over ?73 billion. In addition to this, Ares is one of the largest and most experienced CLO managers globally, having issued 107 CLOs since 1999, of which 60 are active today. As of March 31, 2025, Ares?
CLO portfolio represented $32 billion of the $359 billion of assets managed across the Ares Credit Group.
