Alternative-asset platform spanning private credit and data-center finance
Ares Management
Ares manages credit, real assets, secondaries and private equity. AUM reached $671.3 billion at June 2026, and its funds held $1.6 billion of commitments to a Vantage Data Centers facility.
Business categories Asset Management & Alternatives · Finance & Capital · primary
- Asset Management & Alternatives: Blackstone · BlackRock · KKR & Co. · Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. · Ameriprise Financial
ARES Updated Oct 17, 2026 4 AI consumers· 3 recurring
Per the valuechain.wiki graph, Ares Management is directly linked to 2 companies (0 supply, 0 revenue, 2 investment relationships) and reaches 17 companies within two hops; the links are backed by 8 dated sources, 3 of them primary filings (as of 2026-10-17).
Financials & Segments
- Total revenue · $671.3 billion of AUM and $409.9 billion of fee-paying AUM at June 2026. Q2 management fees were $1.018 billion and fee-related earnings were $491.1 million.
- Customer concentration · Credit represented 65% of AUM. Perpetual capital or long-dated funds generated 94% of management fees, while perpetual-capital AUM was $223.3 billion.
- Segments · Credit · Real Assets · Secondaries · Private Equity and Other
Revenue from
- Institutional and individual investors (management fees) High confidence· Amount $1B · Q2 2026 · Quarterly management fees
Ares manages institutional and individual capital for recurring management fees. Q2 2026 management fees were $1.018 billion and AUM was $671.3 billion.Confirms EN SEC EDGAR Published Jul 31, 2026: Ares Management Second Quarter 2026 Earnings PresentationConfirms KO Maeil Business Newspaper Securities Published Jul 31, 2026: Ares Management Q2 after-tax realized income reaches $467.6 million - Funds paying carried interest and incentive fees High confidence· Amount $293M · Q2 2026 · Carried interest allocation plus incentive fees
Ares earns carried interest and incentive fees from fund performance. The two items totaled $292.7 million in Q2 2026.
Pays to
- Employees and investment professionals High confidence· Amount $689M · Q2 2026 · Quarterly compensation and benefits expense
Compensation and benefits, including salaries, incentives and equity awards, are the main cost of the people-led platform. Q2 2026 expense was $688.7 million. - External services, offices and administration (undisclosed) High confidence· Amount $256M · Q2 2026 · Quarterly general, administrative and other expense
Ares does not name individual vendors for professional services, offices, technology and operations. Q2 2026 general and administrative expense totaled $255.7 million.
Investors
- BlackRock High confidence· Market share 7.11% · as of 2025-12-31 · BlackRock beneficial ownership of Ares Class A shares
Ares's 2026 proxy reports that BlackRock beneficially owned 15,778,507 Class A shares, or 7.11%, at year-end 2025. - Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group High confidence· Market share 6.02% · 2026 proxy statement · SMBC ownership of Ares Class A shares
SMFG subsidiary Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation held 13,364,740 Ares Class A shares, or 6.02%. Parent SMFG may be deemed to share voting and dispositive power.
Investments
- Vantage Data Centers High confidence· commitment $1.6B · 2026 financing · Ares-held commitment in the Vantage debt facility
Ares funds arranged a $2.4 billion facility for Vantage Data Centers development, construction and operations in North America. Ares held $1.6 billion of commitments and funded $330 million at closing.Confirms KO AInvest Korea Published Aug 1, 2026: The $100 Billion Wager: What Vantage Data Centers Wants the Market to BelieveMentions KO Hana Securities Research Center Published May 14, 2026: Global Credit: Private Credit and AI Infrastructure FinanceConfirms EN Ares Management Published Feb 10, 2026: Ares Arranges $2.4 Billion Debt Facility to Vantage Data Centers
Value-chain ripple (2 tiers)
Following node-to-node links up to 2 tiers; each firm is shown once, at its nearest tier.
| Company | Chain | '21 | '22 | '23 | '24 | '25 | YTD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ares Management | node | +77.8 | -12.8 | +79.5 | +52.7 | -6.2 | -25 |
| Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group | benef1 | +33 | +45 | +42 | +56 | +46.3 | +24 |
| BlackRock | benef1 | +29.4 | -20.4 | +17.9 | +29.3 | +6.6 | +2.8 |
| Marathon Petroleum Corporation | benef2 | +61 | +86.6 | +30.5 | -4.1 | +19.2 | +183 |
| Targa Resources Corp. | benef2 | +100.1 | +43.7 | +21 | +110.1 | +5.7 | +59.5 |
| Altria Group, Inc. | benef2 | +24.2 | +4.4 | -3.7 | +40.8 | +18.2 | +30.3 |
| Ross Stores | benef2 | -6 | +2.9 | +20.6 | +10.4 | +20.4 | +28.6 |
| ONEOK, Inc. | benef2 | +64.7 | +18.9 | +13.2 | +50.1 | -22.9 | +26.8 |
| Elevance Health, Inc. | benef2 | +46.1 | +11.8 | -6.9 | -20.7 | -3.1 | +17.4 |
| Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. | benef2 | +84.1 | -20.5 | +43.5 | -12.5 | -10.5 | +16.5 |
| Incyte Corporation | benef2 | -15.6 | +9.4 | -21.8 | +10 | +43 | +14.2 |
| American Water Works | benef2 | +24.8 | -17.9 | -11.7 | -3.5 | +7.4 | +10.1 |
| Edwards Lifesciences Corporation | benef2 | +42 | -42.4 | +2.2 | -2.9 | +15.2 | +5.5 |
| Hubbell Incorporated | benef2 | +35.6 | +15.1 | +42.4 | +28.9 | +7.4 | +4.7 |
| Microsoft | benef2 | +52.5 | -28 | +58.2 | +12.9 | +15.6 | +4 |
| Edison International | benef2 | +13.6 | -2.6 | +17.4 | +15.2 | -20.4 | -1.7 |
| Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated | benef2 | +18.3 | -5.1 | +3.6 | +42.6 | -1.9 | -6.7 |
| Zoetis Inc. | benef2 | +48.3 | -39.5 | +35.9 | -16.6 | -21.8 | -39.6 |
YTD as of 2026-10-09 · source: Yahoo Finance
Ares shares ran early, gaining 77.8% in 2021, 79.5% in 2023 and 52.7% in 2024, before falling 6.2% in 2025 and 25.0% through October 9, 2026. Operations moved the other way: Q2 2026 AUM and fee-paying AUM each grew 17%, and quarterly fundraising reached a record $36.4 billion. Blackstone fell 23.5% and KKR 32.0% in the same year, making the sector signal stronger than a company-only explanation: rates, private-credit risk and valuation cooled listed managers ahead of their fee earnings. Ares is differentiated by credit at 65% of AUM and data-center finance. Its $1.6 billion commitment to Vantage transmits AI-infrastructure demand into fees and deployment, but the same channel becomes credit risk if tenant cash flow or refinancing weakens. The next test is Vantage tenant concentration and refinancing terms.
Analysis generated from returns as of 2026-10-09← All companiesMarkdown · JSON · Customers · Suppliers · Ripple