Spotlight: Ares Management’s Wealth Lineup, From Strategic Income Fund to Core Infrastructure

The Los Angeles manager that began in 1997 as a credit specialist now sells individual investors a perpetual private credit fund, an infrastructure fund built as a BDC, and a 1031 exchange program.

October 20, 2026

Ares Management Corporation is an NYSE-listed alternative investment manager (ARES) with about $671 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2026, according to the firm. Its private wealth business, launched in 2021, offers advisors evergreen vehicles across credit, infrastructure, real estate and private equity. The infrastructure fund is structured as a business development company, a wrapper usually used for lending.

The wealth business is younger than the firm. Ares was founded in 1997 to invest in bank loans, high-yield bonds, direct lending and structured equity. Its direct lending BDC, Ares Capital Corporation, went public on Nasdaq in 2004, and Ares Management listed on the NYSE in 2014. In 2019 the firm converted from a partnership to a corporation and launched Aspida Financial for insurance, a market where chief executive Michael Arougheti has argued that insurers have little practical choice but to rely on private credit. In 2021 Ares acquired Landmark Partners and Black Creek Group and started both its secondaries and wealth management platforms. The 2025 acquisition of GCP International made Ares, by its own account, one of the three largest global owners and operators of logistics assets.

Ares Strategic Income Fund

ASIF is a non-traded perpetual BDC whose Class I shares launched December 5, 2022. It lends mainly to U.S. middle-market companies, which it defines as companies with EBITDA between $10 million and $250 million. It concentrates on industries it considers non-cyclical, such as healthcare, consumer services and software, and generally avoids businesses with heavy capital spending needs. As of August 31, 2026, ASIF reported $22.7 billion in total assets, 79% senior secured exposure and 92% floating-rate debt, and its May 2026 update spread the portfolio across 831 companies. The fund says all distributions since inception were funded from cash flows from operations as of August 31. ASIF accepts subscriptions monthly at NAV and intends to offer to repurchase up to 5% of shares each quarter, buying back pro rata when requests exceed that amount, with the board able to amend or suspend the program.

Ares Core Infrastructure Fund

ACI is a privately offered, perpetual BDC that buys equity in operating infrastructure: power generation including renewables, battery storage and natural gas; data centers, fiber and cell towers; utilities; and transportation. It targets assets already built and earning revenue under long-term contracts, which keeps it out of development and construction risk. The fund began August 28, 2024, and Ares reported $9.0 billion in gross asset value across 55 underlying assets as of August 31, 2026. ACI is open to accredited investors and takes new capital monthly, including $769.0 million at its September 2026 closing. Ares classified all of the fund's distributions through 2025 as return of capital and expects the same for 2026 distributions paid through July, noting that the treatment is not confirmed until year-end. Keith Derman and Steve Porto are co-CEOs.

Real Estate and the 1031 Exchange Route

Ares Real Estate Income Trust is the core and core-plus real estate vehicle. It invests in logistics, multifamily, data centers, self-storage and student housing, with an allocation to real estate private credit. In May 2026 an affiliate of its advisor lifted its Class B share purchase commitment to $300 million. Ares Industrial Real Estate Income Trust focuses on industrial property.

Ares Real Estate Exchange (AREX) is the program for owners of appreciated property. It offers Delaware statutory trust interests that qualify as replacement property under Section 1031. AREX also describes a possible second step: a Section 721 exchange of those DST interests into operating partnership units of a REIT, which converts a fractional property interest into divisible units that are easier to pass to heirs.

Secondaries, Sports and an Interval Fund

Ares Private Markets Fund covers private equity, investing mainly through secondaries. Ares Sports, Media and Entertainment Opportunities makes debt and equity investments in leagues, teams and related businesses, a sector where Ares says it has invested since 2007. The lineup also includes an interval fund, CION Ares Diversified Credit Fund, which is advised by CION Ares Management, LLC. Ares Management Capital Markets LLC acts as the in-house dealer manager, and Raj Dhanda is global head of wealth management.

The parent company reported its largest fundraising quarter in the second quarter of 2026, with more than $36 billion in gross inflows.