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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020

OR

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from             to            

Commission File No. 001-36429

ARES MANAGEMENT CORPORATION

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware	80-0962035
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)	(I.R.S. Employer Identification Number)

2000 Avenue of the Stars, 12th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90067

(Address of principal executive office) (Zip Code)

(310) 201-4100

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

N/A

(Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of each class	Trading Symbol(s)	Name of each exchange on which registered
Class A common stock, par value $0.01 per share	ARES	New York Stock Exchange
7.00% Series A Preferred Stock, par value $0.01 per share	ARES.PRA	New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐  No x

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ¨  No x

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days: Yes x  No ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes x  No ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company.” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large Accelerated Filer  x Accelerated Filer ☐ Non-Accelerated Filer ☐ Smaller Reporting Company ☐ Emerging Growth Company ☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management's assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. Yes ☒  No ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐  No x

The aggregate market value of the common shares held by non-affiliates of the registrant on June 30, 2020, based on the closing price on that date of $39.70 on the New York Stock Exchange, was approximately $4,469,964,167. As of February 18, 2021 there were 149,539,441 of the registrant’s shares of Class A common stock outstanding, 1,000 shares of the registrant's Class B common stock outstanding, and 112,447,618 of the registrant's Class C common stock outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Part III of this Form 10-K incorporates by reference information from the registrant’s definitive proxy statement related to the 2021 annual meeting of stockholders.

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

	Page
PART I
Item 1. Business	8
Item 1A. Risk Factors	32
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments	87
Item 2. Properties	88
Item 3. Legal Proceedings	88
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures	88
PART II
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	88
Item 6. Selected Financial Data	91
Item 7.  Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	92
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk	139
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	141
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	141
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures	141
Item 9B. Other Information	144
PART III
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance	144
Item 11. Executive Compensation	144
Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Shareholder Matters	144
Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence	144
Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services	144
PART IV
Item 15.  Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules	145
Item 16. Form 10-K Summary	148
Signatures	149

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Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), which reflect our current views with respect to, among other things, future events, operations and financial performance. You can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking words such as “outlook,” “believes,” “expects,” “potential,” “continues,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seeks,” “predicts,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates,” “anticipates” or the negative version of those words, other comparable words or other statements that do not relate to historical or factual matters. The forward-looking statements are based on our beliefs, assumptions and expectations of our future performance, taking into account all information currently available to us. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, financial results, financial condition, business prospects, growth strategy and liquidity. Some of these factors are described in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, under the headings “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “ Item 1A. Risk Factors”. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the risk factors and other cautionary statements that are included in this report and in our other periodic filings. If one or more of these or other risks or uncertainties materialize, or if our underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, our actual results may vary materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements. New risks and uncertainties arise over time, and it is not possible for us to predict those events or how they may affect us. Therefore, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.

References in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to the “Ares Operating Group” refer to, collectively, Ares Holdings L.P. (“Ares Holdings”), Ares Offshore Holdings L.P. (“Ares Offshore”) and Ares Investments L.P. (“Ares Investments”). References in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to an “Ares Operating Group Unit” or an “AOG Unit” refer to, collectively, a partnership unit in each of the Ares Operating Group entities. The use of any defined term in this report to mean more than one entities, persons, securities or other items collectively is solely for convenience of reference and in no way implies that such entities, persons, securities or other items are one indistinguishable group. For example, notwithstanding the use of the defined terms “Ares,” “we” and “our” in this report to refer to Ares Management Corporation and its subsidiaries, each subsidiary of Ares Management Corporation is a standalone legal entity that is separate and distinct from Ares Management Corporation and any of its other subsidiaries.

Under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”), we are required to consolidate (a) entities other than limited partnerships and entities similar to limited partnerships in which we hold a majority voting interest or have majority ownership and control over the operational, financial and investing decisions of that entity, including Ares-affiliates and affiliated funds and co-investment entities, for which we are presumed to have controlling financial interests, and (b) entities that we concluded are variable interest entities (“VIEs”), including limited partnerships and collateralized loan obligations, for which we are deemed to be the primary beneficiary. When an entity is consolidated, we reflect the assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses and cash flows of the entity in our consolidated financial statements on a gross basis, subject to eliminations from consolidation, including the elimination of the management fees, performance income and other fees that we earn from the entity. However, the presentation of performance related compensation and other expenses associated with generating such revenues is not affected by the consolidation process. In addition, as a result of the consolidation process, the net income attributable to third-party investors in consolidated entities is presented as net income attributable to non-controlling interests in Consolidated Funds in our Consolidated Statements of Operations. We also consolidate joint ventures that we have established with third-party investors for strategic distribution and expansion purposes. The results of these entities are reflected on a gross basis in the consolidated financial statements, subject to eliminations from consolidation, and net income attributable to third-party investors in the consolidated joint ventures is included in net income attributable to redeemable interest and non-controlling interests in Ares Operating Group entities.

In this Annual Report on Form 10-K, in addition to presenting our results on a consolidated basis in accordance with GAAP, we present revenues, expenses and other results on a (i) “segment basis,” which deconsolidates the consolidated funds and removes the proportional results attributable to third-party investors in the consolidated joint ventures, and therefore shows the results of our reportable segments without giving effect to the consolidation of these entities and (ii) “unconsolidated reporting basis,” which shows the results of our reportable segments on a combined segment basis together with our Operations Management Group. In addition to our reportable segments, we have an Operations Management Group (the “OMG”). The OMG consists of shared resource groups to support our reportable segments by providing infrastructure and administrative support in the areas of accounting/finance, operations, information technology, strategy and relationship management, legal, compliance and human resources. The OMG’s expenses are not allocated to our reportable segments but we consider the cost structure of the OMG when evaluating our financial performance. This information constitutes non-GAAP financial information within the meaning of Regulation G, as promulgated by the SEC. Our management uses this information to assess

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the performance of our reportable segments and the OMG, and we believe that this information enhances the ability of shareholders to analyze our performance. For more information, see “Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements - Note 15. Segment Reporting.”

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Glossary

When used in this report, unless the context otherwise requires:

•“ARCC Part I Fees” refers to a quarterly performance income on the net investment income of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: ARCC) (“ARCC”). Such fees from ARCC are classified as management fees as they are predictable and recurring in nature, not subject to contingent repayment and generally cash-settled each quarter, unless subject to a payment deferral;

•“ARCC Part II Fees” refers to fees that are paid in arrears as of the end of each calendar year when the cumulative aggregate realized capital gains exceed the cumulative aggregate realized capital losses and aggregate unrealized capital depreciation, less the aggregate amount of ARCC Part II Fees paid in all prior years since inception;

•“Ares”, the “Company”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to Ares Management Corporation and its subsidiaries;

•“Ares Operating Group Unit” or an “AOG Unit” refers to, collectively, a partnership unit in each of the Ares Operating Group entities;

•“assets under management” or “AUM” refers to the assets we manage. For our funds other than CLOs, our AUM represents the sum of the net asset value ("NAV") of such funds, the drawn and undrawn debt (at the fund-level including amounts subject to restrictions) and uncalled committed capital (including commitments to funds that have yet to commence their investment periods). NAV refers to the fair value of the assets of a fund less the fair value of the liabilities of the fund. For our funds that are CLOs, our AUM is equal to initial principal amounts adjusted for paydowns;

•“AUM not yet paying fees” (also referred to as "shadow AUM") refers to AUM that is not currently paying fees and is eligible to earn management fees upon deployment;

•“available capital” (also referred to as “dry powder”) is comprised of uncalled committed capital and undrawn amounts under credit facilities and may include AUM that may be canceled or not otherwise available to invest;

•“catch-up fees” refers to management fees that are one-time in nature and represents management fees charged to fund investors in subsequent closings of a fund that apply to the time period between the fee initiation date and the subsequent closing date;

•“Class B membership interests” refers to the interests that were retained by the former owners of Crestline Denali Capital LLC and represent the financial interests in the subordinated notes of the related CLOs;

•“CLOs” refers to “our funds” that are structured as collateralized loan obligations;

•“Consolidated Funds” refers collectively to certain Ares funds, co-investment entities and CLOs that are required under GAAP to be consolidated in our consolidated financial statements;

•“Credit Facility” refers to the revolving credit facility of the Ares Operating Group;

•“effective management fee rate” represents the annualized fees divided by the average fee paying AUM for the period, excluding the impact of one-time catch-up fees;

•“fee paying AUM” or “FPAUM” refers to the AUM from which we directly earn management fees. FPAUM is equal to the sum of all the individual fee bases of our funds that directly contribute to our management fees. For our funds other than CLOs, our FPAUM represents the amount of limited partner capital commitments for certain closed-end funds within the reinvestment period, the amount of limited partner invested capital for the aforementioned closed-end funds beyond the reinvestment period and the portfolio value, gross asset value or NAV. For our funds that are CLOs, our FPAUM is equal to the gross amount of aggregate collateral balance, at par, adjusted for defaulted or discounted collateral;

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•“fee related earnings” or “FRE”, a non-GAAP measure, is used to assess core operating performance by determining whether recurring revenue, primarily consisting of management fees, is sufficient to cover operating expenses and to generate profits. FRE differs from income before taxes computed in accordance with GAAP as it excludes performance income, performance related compensation, investment income from our Consolidated Funds and non-consolidated funds and certain other items that we believe are not indicative of our core operating performance;

•“GAAP” refers to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America;

•“Holdco Members” refers to Michael Arougheti, David Kaplan, Antony Ressler, Bennett Rosenthal, Ryan Berry, R. Kipp deVeer and Michael McFerran;

•“Incentive eligible AUM” or “IEAUM” refers to the AUM of our funds from which performance income may be generated, regardless of whether or not they are currently generating performance income. It generally represents the NAV plus uncalled equity or total assets plus uncalled debt, as applicable, of our funds for which we are entitled to receive performance income, excluding capital committed by us and our professionals (from which we generally do not earn performance income). With respect to ARCC's AUM, only ARCC Part II Fees may be generated from IEAUM;

•“Incentive generating AUM” or “IGAUM” refers to the AUM of our funds that are currently generating performance income on a realized or unrealized basis. It generally represents the NAV or total assets of our funds, as applicable, for which we are entitled to receive performance income, excluding capital committed by us and our professionals (from which we generally do not earn performance income). ARCC is only included in IGAUM when ARCC Part II Fees are being generated;

•“management fees” refers to fees we earn for advisory services provided to our funds, which are generally based on a defined percentage of fair value of assets, total commitments, invested capital, net asset value, net investment income, total assets or par value of the investment portfolios managed by us and include ARCC Part I Fees, among others;

•“net inflows of capital” refers to net new commitments during the period, including equity and debt commitments and gross inflows into our open-ended managed accounts and sub-advised accounts, as well as new debt and equity issuances by our publicly traded vehicles minus redemptions from our open-ended funds, managed accounts and sub-advised accounts;

•“net performance income” refers to performance income net of performance related compensation. Performance related compensation is the portion of performance income that is typically payable to our professionals;

•“our funds” refers to the funds, alternative asset companies, co-investment vehicles and other entities and accounts that are managed or co-managed by the Ares Operating Group, and which are structured to pay fees. It also includes funds managed by Ivy Hill Asset Management, L.P., a wholly owned portfolio company of ARCC and an SEC-registered investment adviser;

•“performance income” refers to income we earn based on the performance of a fund that is generally based on certain specific hurdle rates as defined in the fund’s investment management or partnership agreements and may be either an incentive fee or carried interest;

•“permanent capital” refers to capital of our funds that do not have redemption provisions or a requirement to return capital to investors upon exiting the investments made with such capital, except as required by applicable law. Such funds currently consist of ARCC, Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (“ACRE”) and Ares Dynamic Credit Allocation Fund, Inc. (“ARDC”). Such funds may be required, or elect, to return all or a portion of capital gains and investment income. In addition, permanent capital includes certain insurance related assets that are owned or related to Aspida Life Re Ltd (“Aspida”);

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•“realized income” or “RI”, a non-GAAP measure, is an operating metric used by management to evaluate performance of the business based on operating performance and the contribution of each of the business segments to that performance, while removing the fluctuations of unrealized income and losses, which may or may not be eventually realized at the levels presented and whose realizations depend more on future outcomes than current business operations. RI differs from income before taxes by excluding (a) operating results of our Consolidated Funds, (b) depreciation and amortization expense, (c) the effects of changes arising from corporate actions, (d) unrealized gains and losses related to performance income and investment performance and (e) certain other items that we believe are not indicative of our operating performance. Changes arising from corporate actions include equity-based compensation expenses, the amortization of intangible assets, transaction costs associated with mergers, acquisitions and capital transactions, underwriting costs and expenses incurred in connection with corporate reorganization;

•“SEC” refers to the Securities and Exchange Commission;

•“Series A Preferred Stock” refers to the preferred stock, $0.01 par value per share, of the Company designated as 7.00% Series A Preferred Stock;

•“2024 Senior Notes” refers to senior notes issued by a wholly owned subsidiary of Ares Holdings in October 2014 with a maturity in October 2024; and

•“2030 Senior Notes” refers to senior notes issued by a wholly owned subsidiary of Ares Holdings in June 2020 with a maturity in June 2030.

Many of the terms used in this report, including AUM, FPAUM, FRE and RI, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. In addition, our definitions of AUM and FPAUM are not based on any definition of AUM or FPAUM that is set forth in the agreements governing the investment funds that we manage and may differ from definitions of AUM or FPAUM set forth in other agreements to which we are a party or definitions used by the SEC or other regulatory bodies. Further, FRE and RI are not measures of performance calculated in accordance with GAAP. We use FRE and RI as measures of operating performance, not as measures of liquidity. FRE and RI should not be considered in isolation or as substitutes for operating income, net income, operating cash flows, or other income or cash flow statement data prepared in accordance with GAAP. The use of FRE and RI without consideration of related GAAP measures is not adequate due to the adjustments described above. Our management compensates for these limitations by using FRE and RI as supplemental measures to our GAAP results. We present these measures to provide a more complete understanding of our performance as our management measures it. Amounts and percentages throughout this report may reflect rounding adjustments and consequently totals may not appear to sum.

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PART I

Item 1.  Business

BUSINESS

Overview

Ares is a leading global alternative investment manager with $197.0 billion of assets under management and over 1,450 employees in over 25 offices in more than 10 countries. We offer our investors a range of investment strategies and seek to deliver attractive performance to an investor base that includes over 1,090 direct institutional relationships and a significant retail investor base across our publicly traded and sub-advised funds. Since our inception in 1997, we have adhered to a disciplined investment philosophy that focuses on delivering strong risk-adjusted investment returns through market cycles. Ares believes each of its distinct but complementary investment groups in Credit, Private Equity, Real Estate and Strategic Initiatives is a market leader based on assets under management and investment performance. We believe we create value for our stakeholders not only through our investment performance, but also by expanding our product offering, enhancing our distribution channels, increasing our global presence, investing in our non-investment functions, securing strategic partnerships and completing strategic acquisitions and portfolio purchases.

Our AUM has grown to $197.0 billion as of December 31, 2020 from $42.0 billion a decade earlier. As shown in the chart below, over the past five and ten years, our assets under management have achieved a compound annual growth rate (“CAGR”) of 16% and 17%, respectively ($ in billions):

We have an established track record of delivering strong risk-adjusted returns through market cycles. We believe our consistent and strong performance in a broad range of alternative investments has been shaped by several distinguishing features of our platform:

•Comprehensive Multi-Asset Class Expertise and Flexible Capital:  Our proficiency at evaluating every level of the capital structure, from senior debt to common equity, across companies, structured assets, infrastructure, power and energy assets, and real estate projects enables us to effectively assess relative value. This proficiency is complemented by our flexibility in deploying capital in a range of structures and different market environments to maximize risk-adjusted returns.

•Differentiated Market Intelligence:  Our proprietary research on over 55 industries and insights from a broad, global investment portfolio enable us to more effectively diligence and structure our products and investments.

•Consistent Investment Approach:  We believe our rigorous, credit-oriented investment approach across each of our investment groups is a key contributor to our strong investment performance and ability to expand our product offering.

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•Robust Sourcing Model:  Our investment professionals’ local market presence and ability to effectively cross-source for other investment groups generates a robust pipeline of high-quality investment opportunities across our platform.

•Talented and Committed Professionals: We attract, develop and retain highly accomplished investment professionals who not only demonstrate deep and broad investment expertise but also have a strong sense of commitment to our firm.

•Collaborative Culture:  We share ideas, relationships and information across our investment groups, which enables us to more effectively source, evaluate and manage investments.

Integrated Investment Platform and Process

We operate our firm as an integrated investment platform with a collaborative culture that emphasizes sharing of knowledge and expertise. We believe the exchange of information enhances our ability to analyze investments, deploy capital and improve the performance of our funds and portfolio companies. We have established deep and sophisticated independent research capabilities in over 55 industries and insights from active investments in over 2,025 companies, over 760 alternative credit investments and over 210 properties. In order to better collaborate on the information insights we possess across our investment platform, we formed a Global Markets Committee that meets monthly to share investing activities and market insights across our investment groups and the impact these market trends are having on our global investment strategies. Our extensive network of investment professionals includes local and geographically positioned individuals with the knowledge, experience and relationships that enable them to identify and take advantage of a wide range of investment opportunities.

Our investment process leverages the power of the Ares platform and an extensive network of professionals across our investment areas to identify and source attractive risk adjusted return opportunities while emphasizing capital preservation. We utilize our collective market and company knowledge, proprietary internal industry and company research, third party information and financial modeling to drive fundamental credit analysis and investment selection. We are able to invest up and down a company’s capital structure, which we believe helps us capitalize on out-performance opportunities and assess relative value for a particular investment. The investment committees of our investment groups review and evaluate investment opportunities in a framework that includes a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the key risks of each investment. We do not have a centralized investment committee and instead our investment committees are structured with overlapping membership from different investment groups to ensure consistency of approach and shared investment experience. In addition, our investment vehicles have investment policies and procedures that generally contain requirements and limitations, such as concentrations of securities, industries, and geographies in which such investment vehicle will invest, as well as other limitations required by law.

•Credit: Our experienced team takes a value-oriented approach which, among other factors, considers industry and market analysis, technical analysis, fundamental credit analysis and in-house research to identify investments that offer attractive value in comparison to the perceived credit risk profile. We use our longstanding relationships, considerable scale, research, industry knowledge, structuring expertise and often our self-origination capabilities to invest actively across capital structures with a focus on selecting the best risk adjusted returns for our investors, while also seeking to provide our borrowers a valued capital solution. Each investment decision involves an intensive due diligence process that is generally focused on evaluating the target company and its current and future prospects, its management team and industry, its ability to withstand adverse conditions and its capital structure, sponsorship and structural protection, among others.

•Private Equity: Our private equity professionals have a demonstrated ability to deploy flexible capital, which allows them to stay both active and disciplined in various market environments. At the center of our investment process is a systematic approach that emphasizes rigorous due diligence at the company and market level in addition to a risk-adjusted return value assessment. Our investment process is comprised of a five-part process: (1) generate robust pipeline, (2) perform initial screening, (3) conduct due diligence, (4) seek investment approval, and (5) use a systematic approach to value creation. Our Private Equity Group employs a “pull model” with portfolio management whereby a team can access the Ares network for any number of value-creating levers that have been identified.

•Real Estate: With our experienced team, along with our expansive network of relationships, our Real Estate Group invests in opportunities across both real estate equity and debt investing. Across our real estate equity and debt investment strategies, our Real Estate Group differentiates itself through its cycle-tested leadership, demonstrated performance across market cycles, access to real-time property market and corporate trends, and proven ability to create value through a disciplined investment process. The activities of our Real Estate Group are managed by dedicated equity and debt teams in the U.S. and Europe. These individuals collaborate frequently within and across

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strategies to enhance sourcing, exchange information to inform underwriting and leverage relationships to drive pricing power. Our Real Estate Group's equity team focuses on value-add and opportunistic investing, while our Real Estate Group’s debt team focuses on directly originated commercial mortgage investments across the risk spectrum.

•Strategic Initiatives: Our strategic initiatives team executes investment strategies that expand our reach and scale in new and existing global markets. Strategic Initiatives includes the Ares SSG platform subsequent to the completion of the acquisition on July 1, 2020. Ares SSG makes credit and special situations investments through its local originating presence across Asia-Pacific on behalf of its institutional client base. Strategic Initiatives also includes Ares Insurance Solutions (“AIS”), our dedicated in-house team that provides solutions to insurance clients including asset management, capital solutions and corporate development.

We also recognize the importance of considering environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) factors in our investment process and have adopted an ESG policy for the conduct of our business. We work collaboratively with our various underwriting, asset management, legal and compliance teams to appropriately integrate relevant ESG considerations into our investment process.

In addition, as part of our growth strategy, we may from time to time engage in discussions with counterparties with respect to various potential strategic transactions, including potential investments in, and acquisitions of, other companies or assets. In connection with evaluating potential strategic transactions and assets, we may incur significant expenses for the evaluation and due diligence investigation and negotiation of any potential transaction.

Breadth, Depth and Tenure of our Senior Management

Ares was built upon the fundamental principle that each of our distinct but complementary investment groups benefits from being part of our broader platform. We believe that our strong performance, consistent growth and high talent retention through economic cycles is due largely to the effective application of this principle across our broad organization of over 1,450 employees. The management of our operating businesses is currently overseen by our Executive Management Committee which typically meets weekly to discuss strategy and operational matters, and includes as representatives Holdco Members and other senior leadership from our investment groups and business operations team. We also have a Partners Committee comprised of senior leadership from across the firm that meets periodically to discuss our business, including investment and operating performance, fundraising, market conditions, strategic initiatives and other firm matters. Each of our investment groups is led by its own deep leadership team of highly accomplished investment professionals, who average approximately 25 years of experience managing investments in, advising, underwriting and restructuring companies. While primarily focused on managing strategies within their own investment group, these senior professionals are integrated within our platform through economic, cultural and structural measures. Our senior professionals have the opportunity to participate in the incentive programs of multiple investment groups to reward collaboration across our investment activities. This collaboration takes place on a daily basis and is formally promoted through internal systems and widely attended weekly or monthly meetings.

Human Capital

We believe that our people and our culture are the most critical strategic drivers of our success as a firm. Creating a welcoming and inclusive work environment with opportunities for growth and development is essential to attracting and retaining a high-performance team, which is in turn necessary to drive differentiated outcomes. We believe that our unique culture, which centers upon values of collaboration, responsibility, entrepreneurialism, self-awareness and trustworthiness makes Ares a preferred place for top talent at all levels to build a long-term career within the alternative asset management industry. We invest heavily in our human capital efforts, including:

Talent Management: As of December 31, 2020, we had over 1,450 full-time employees, comprised of over 525 professionals in our investment groups and over 925 operations management professionals, located in over 25 offices in more than 10 countries. We provide a comprehensive set of programs, policies and benefits to enable team members to thrive, grow and contribute to their highest potential.

•Governance and Policies: Ares is committed to providing a work environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. While our culture is the foundation of our work environment, our equal opportunity employment, diversity, and anti-harassment/anti-discrimination policies reinforce a professional atmosphere.

•Recruiting and Onboarding: We pursue several strategic paths to hire top talent, including campus and lateral recruiting efforts, and focus on diversity. We prioritize making all new team members feel welcome and seek to set

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them up for success through onboarding training, peer advisor programs, ongoing touchpoints, and connecting them with our employee resource groups (“ERGs”), which are open to all team members.

•Mentoring, Training and Employee Engagement: We provide formal and informal mentoring, learning and development, and employee engagement opportunities. We conduct periodic pulse surveys, frequent townhall meetings hosted by senior leadership, and events to foster belonging.

•Performance Management: We take an ongoing feedback approach to performance management, encouraging leaders and team members to participate in goal setting and ongoing feedback discussions throughout the year, in addition to our firm-wide 360 annual review process.

•Retention, Rewards and Recognition: We provide competitive compensation and benefits to attract, retain and align the incentives of our employees with our investors and stakeholders. We also have programs that seek to recognize significant team member contributions at the firm level.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: We invest heavily in diversity, equity and inclusion (“DEI”) as a strategic pillar that integrates with all talent processes and global business practices. In partnership with our Human Resources function, our global DEI Council implements a strategic framework to attract, develop, engage and advance diverse talent within an inclusive, welcoming environment.

•Recruiting: We prioritize growing diversity through our campus recruiting efforts, as well as our early pipeline programs to educate women and minorities on the industry. We are focused on building relationships with diversity-focused recruiting agencies and deepening diversity partnerships.

•Education, Celebration and Belonging: We focus on holding educational and employee engagement events, including many in partnership with our six ERGs, which are grassroots, employee-led, executive-sponsored groups that seek to enhance DEI and support minority team members. In addition, we conduct regular mandatory anti-harassment and unconscious bias training.

•Equity: We strive to ensure pay equity, regardless of gender or race/ethnicity, and have undertaken pay equity studies for our employees in the U.S. and the U.K.

Health and Wellness: We believe that healthy team members are more productive, and we invest heavily in benefits and initiatives to support our working families. In addition to medical, dental, vision, life insurance, disability insurance, and retirement benefits, we provide generous primary and non-primary caregiver leave, adoption and reproductive assistance, family care resources and mental health benefits. We also host several wellness-related events throughout the year on topics such as nutrition and stress management.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have invested further in our employees’ health and well-being. We pivoted to remote work early in the pandemic and have utilized technology to enable remote productivity. We implemented safety policies and controls in our offices for team members who wish to come onsite. We communicate frequently and have made available no-cost home fitness and mental health resources, as well as webinars and expert speakers to keep our employees engaged and inspired.

Philanthropy: Across our global locations, our Ares In Motion program reflects our commitment to corporate citizenship and supporting our local communities through a wide range of philanthropic and volunteerism efforts, including corporate sponsorships and partnerships, a global volunteer program and employee donation matching program.

Ares’ directed charitable giving in 2020 centered upon COVID-19 relief, including significant donations to hospitals in Los Angeles, New York, and London, nonprofit organizations focused on health equity and disproportionately impacted groups, and funds supporting portfolio companies’ employees who have been affected by the crisis.

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2020 Highlights

Fundraising

In 2020, we raised $41.2 billion in gross new capital for more than 85 different investment vehicles. Of the $41.2 billion, $34.7 billion was raised directly from 358 institutional investors (203 existing and 155 new to Ares) and $6.5 billion was raised through intermediaries. The charts below summarize our gross new capital commitments by investment group and strategy ($ in billions):    

Credit: $32.1 Private Equity: $6.2

             

European Direct Lending	U.S. Direct Lending	Alternative Credit	Corporate Private Equity	Special Opportunities	Infrastructure & Power
Syndicated Loans	Multi-Asset Credit	High Yield

Real Estate: $2.7 Strategic Initiatives: $0.2

             

Real Estate Debt U.S. Real Estate Equity European Real Estate Equity Asian Secured Lending

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Capital Deployment

We took advantage of our diverse global platform to invest more than $26.7 billion (excluding permanent capital) globally in 2020 as shown in the following charts ($ in billions):

Credit $18.2 Private Equity: $5.4

            

European Direct Lending	U.S. Direct Lending	Alternative Credit	Corporate Private Equity	Special Opportunities	Infrastructure and Power
Syndicated Loans	Multi-Asset Credit	High Yield

Real Estate: $2.3 Strategic Initiatives: $0.8

        

Real Estate Debt European Real Estate Equity U.S. Real Estate Equity Asian Secured Lending Asian Special Situations

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Of the $26.7 billion invested, $21.4 billion was tied to our drawdown funds. Our capital deployment in drawdown funds comprised of the following ($ in billions):

Credit Private Equity Real Estate Strategic Initiatives

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Investment Groups

Each of our investment groups employs a disciplined, credit-oriented investment philosophy and is managed by a seasoned leadership team of senior professionals with extensive experience investing in, advising, underwriting and restructuring companies, power and energy assets, and real estate properties.

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Credit Group

Our Credit Group is one of the largest managers of credit strategies across the non-investment grade credit universe, with $145.5 billion of AUM and over 200 funds as of December 31, 2020. The Credit Group provides solutions for investors seeking to access a wide range of credit assets, including liquid credit, alternative credit products and direct lending products. The Credit Group capitalizes on opportunities across traded and non-traded corporate and consumer debt across the U.S. and European markets, providing investors access to directly originated fixed and floating rate credit assets along with the ability to capitalize on illiquidity premiums across the credit spectrum. Our U.S. and European direct lending strategies are among the largest in their respective markets. We are also a leading global manager of syndicated bank loans.

The Credit Group offers the following credit strategies across the liquid and illiquid spectrum:

Liquid Credit: Our liquid credit investment solutions help investors access the syndicated loan and high yield bond markets, among other asset categories. We focus on capitalizing on opportunities across traded corporate credit. As of December 31, 2020, our liquid credit team managed $33.8 billion of AUM in over 85 funds and separately managed accounts (“SMAs”).

•Syndicated Loans: Our syndicated loans strategy delivers a diversified portfolio of liquid, traded non-investment grade secured loans to corporate issuers. We focus on evaluating individual credit opportunities related primarily to non-investment grade senior secured loans and primarily target first lien secured debt, with a secondary focus on second lien secured loans and subordinated and other unsecured loans. These capabilities have supported our long history as leading manager and issuer of CLOs which hold syndicated loans.

•High Yield Bonds: Our high yield bonds strategy employs a value-driven philosophy, utilizing fundamental research to identify non-investment grade corporate issuers. We primarily seek a diversified portfolio of liquid, traded non-investment grade corporate bonds. This approach incorporates secured, unsecured and subordinated debt instruments of issuers in both North America and Europe.

•Multi-Asset Credit: Our multi-asset credit strategy combines both syndicated loans and high yield bonds, as well as other asset categories including structured credit, special situations and related credit instruments into a single portfolio. These portfolios are designed to offer investors a flexible solution to credit investing by allowing us to tactically allocate between multiple asset classes in various market conditions. This strategy invests globally, can be highly customized, and is designed to “go anywhere” within the liquid, non-investment grade credit universe.

Alternative Credit: Our alternative credit strategy seeks to capitalize on asset-focused investment opportunities that fall outside of traditional, well-defined markets such as corporate debt, real estate and private equity. As of December 31, 2020, our team of over 30 professionals managed $12.9 billion in AUM in over 20 private funds and SMAs for a global investor base. Our alternative credit strategy emphasizes downside protection and capital preservation through a focus on investments that tend to share the following key attributes: asset security, covenants, structural protections and cash flow velocity. Our investment approach is designed to capture and create value by leveraging our firm's platform insights to assess risk and relative value.

Direct Lending: Our direct lending strategy is one of the largest self-originating direct lenders to the U.S. and European markets, with $98.8 billion of AUM in over 85 funds and investment vehicles as of December 31, 2020. We manage various types of direct lending vehicles within our U.S. and European direct lending teams including commingled funds, SMAs for large institutional investors seeking tailored investment solutions and joint venture lending programs.

Our direct lending team has a multi-channel origination strategy designed to address a broad set of investment opportunities in the middle market. We focus on being the lead or sole lender to our portfolio companies which we believe allows us to exert greater influence over deal terms, capital structure, documentation, fees and pricing, while securing our position as a preferred source of financing for our transaction partners. The team maintains a flexible investment strategy with the capability to invest in first lien senior secured loans (including “unitranche” loans which are loans that combine senior and subordinated debt, generally in a first lien position), second lien senior secured loans, subordinated debt, preferred equity and non-control equity co-investments in private middle market companies.

U.S. Direct Lending: Our leading U.S. team is comprised of over 145 investment professionals that cover more than 525 financial sponsors and provide a wide range of financing solutions to middle market companies that typically range from

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$10 million to $250 million in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”). As of December 31, 2020, our U.S. direct lending team and its affiliates managed $56.5 billion in AUM in over 60 funds and investment vehicles. Our U.S. team manages corporate lending activities primarily through our inaugural vehicle and publicly traded business development company (“BDC”), ARCC, as well as private commingled funds and SMAs. Primary areas of focus for our U.S. Direct Lending teams include:

•Ares Capital Corporation: ARCC is a leading specialty finance company focused on providing direct loans and other investments to private middle market companies in the U.S. ARCC has elected to be regulated as a BDC and is the largest BDC by market capitalization as of December 31, 2020.

•U.S. Commingled Funds and SMAs: Outside of ARCC, U.S. direct lending also generates fees from other funds, including: Ares Private Credit Solutions, which focuses on junior debt investments in upper middle market companies; Ares Senior Direct Lending Fund, which focuses on first lien senior secured loans to North American middle market companies; and Ares Commercial Finance, which focuses on asset-based and cash flow loans to middle market and specialty finance companies; as well as SMAs for large institutional investors.

European Direct Lending: Our leading European team is comprised of over 65 investment professionals that cover approximately 300 financial sponsors and is one of the most active participants in the European middle market. The team offers a wide range of financing opportunities to middle market companies with EBITDA typically ranging from €10 million to €100 million. As of December 31, 2020, our European direct lending team managed $42.3 billion in AUM in over 25 funds, including our flagship European direct lending commingled funds, other various funds and SMAs.

The following charts present the Credit Group’s AUM and FPAUM as of December 31, 2020 by investment strategy ($ in billions):

AUM: $145.5 FPAUM: $88.0

U.S. Direct Lending European Direct Lending Syndicated Loans Alternative Credit High Yield Multi-Asset Credit

Private Equity Group

Our Private Equity Group has achieved compelling investment returns for a loyal and growing group of high profile limited partners and, as of December 31, 2020, had $27.4 billion of AUM. Our Private Equity Group broadly categorizes its investment activities into three strategies: Corporate Private Equity, Special Opportunities and Infrastructure and Power. Our private equity professionals have a demonstrated ability to deploy flexible capital, which allows them to stay both active and disciplined in various market environments. The group manages funds focused primarily on North America and, to a lesser extent, Europe and China.

Corporate Private Equity: Certain of our senior private equity professionals have been working together since 1990 and raised our first corporate private equity fund in 2003. Our team has grown to over 75 investment professionals based in Los

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Angeles, Chicago, London, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. In the U.S. and London, we pursue four principal transactions types: prudently leveraged control buyouts, growth equity, rescue/deleveraging capital and distressed buyouts/discounted debt accumulation. This flexible capital approach, together with the broad resources of the Ares platform, widens our universe of potential investment opportunities and allows us to remain active in different markets and to be highly selective in making investments across various market environments.

Special Opportunities: Our special opportunities team has more than 15 investment professionals and employs a flexible capital strategy to target non-control positions across a broad spectrum of stressed, distressed and opportunistic situations. We target businesses undergoing stress or transformational change that we believe present asymmetric risk/reward opportunities that offer strong downside protection and the potential for significant upside participation. We employ our deep credit expertise, proprietary research and robust sourcing model to capitalize on current market trends. This opportunistic approach allows us to invest in both private and public transaction types across a broad range of industries, asset classes and geographies.

Infrastructure and Power: Our infrastructure and power team has more than 15 investment professionals and takes a value-added approach that seeks to source and structure essential infrastructure assets with strong downside protection and potential for capital appreciation throughout the climate infrastructure, natural gas generation, and energy transportation sectors. We utilize a broad origination strategy, flexible investment approach, and leverage industry relationships and the Ares platform to seek attractive risk-adjusted returns across the infrastructure and power industry. We believe our experience across the asset life cycle, flexible capital approach, and broad infrastructure expertise positions us well to take advantage of the transitioning infrastructure industry.

The following charts present the Private Equity Group’s AUM and FPAUM as of December 31, 2020 by investment strategy ($ in billions):

AUM: $27.4 FPAUM: $21.2

Corporate Private Equity Special Opportunities Infrastructure and Power

Real Estate Group

Our Real Estate Group manages comprehensive equity and debt strategies, with $14.8 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2020. With our experienced team, along with our expansive network of relationships, our Real Estate Group capitalizes on opportunities across both real estate equity and debt investing. Our equity investments focus on implementing hands-on value creation initiatives to mismanaged and capital-starved assets, as well as new development, ultimately selling stabilized assets back into the market. Our debt strategies leverage the Real Estate Group’s diverse sources of capital to directly originate and manage commercial mortgage investments on properties that range from stabilized to those requiring hands-on value creation. The Real Estate Group has achieved significant scale in a short period of time through various acquisitions and successful fundraising efforts. Today, the group provides investors access to its capabilities through several vehicles: U.S. and European real estate equity commingled funds, U.S. real estate debt commingled funds, real estate

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equity and real estate debt SMAs and a publicly traded commercial mortgage REIT, ACRE. The group’s activities are managed by dedicated equity and debt teams in the U.S. and Europe.

Real Estate Equity: Our real estate equity team, with over 55 investment professionals, has extensive real estate private equity experience in the United States and Europe. Our team primarily acquires and improves assets through renovations, repositioning and retenanting as well as selective developments in the United States and Europe. As of December 31, 2020, our real estate equity team managed $9.2 billion in AUM in over 35 investment vehicles. Primary areas of focus for our Real Estate Group equity teams include:

•Real Estate Equity Value-Add: Our U.S. and European value-add investment activities focus on the acquisition of underperforming, income-producing, institutional-quality assets that our team believes can be improved through select value-creation initiatives. We target the major property sectors, including residential, industrial, office and select other property types across the U.S. and Europe.

•Real Estate Equity Opportunistic: Our U.S. and European opportunistic real estate investment activities focus on capitalizing on distressed and special situations, repositioning underperforming assets and undertaking select development and redevelopment projects. We target the major property sectors, including residential, industrial and office as well as select retail, hospitality and other niche asset classes across the U.S. and Europe.

Real Estate Debt: Our real estate debt team, with over 25 professionals, primarily focuses on directly originating and investing in a wide range of financing opportunities in the U.S. As of December 31, 2020, our real estate debt team managed $5.6 billion in AUM in five investment vehicles. In addition to managing private commingled funds and SMAs, our real estate debt team also invests through a specialty finance company, ACRE, which invests in a diversified portfolio of real estate debt investments. By investing through multiple investment vehicles, our real estate debt team has the ability to provide flexible financing across the capital structure. While our real estate debt strategies focus predominantly on directly originated transactions, we also selectively pursue secondary market acquisitions and syndicated transactions.

The following charts present the Real Estate Group’s AUM and FPAUM as of December 31, 2020 by investment strategy ($ in billions):

AUM: $14.8 FPAUM: $10.2

Real Estate Debt European Real Estate Equity U.S. Real Estate Equity

Strategic Initiatives

Strategic Initiatives represents operating segments and strategic investments that seek to expand the Company’s reach and its scale in new and existing global markets including Ares SSG as well as Ares Insurance Solutions (“AIS”).

Ares SSG: Ares SSG is a highly differentiated investment manager making credit, special situations and private equity investments in the Asia-Pacific region. The team of over 30 investment professionals has an extensive history of investing in Asian markets. Ares SSG benefits from having an on-the-ground presence in offices across Asia Pacific and a comprehensive

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range of local market licenses and entities to provide our clients with an extensive regional investment platform. Ares SSG has $7.0 billion in AUM across over 10 funds as of December 31, 2020 and primarily employs a direct origination model and aims to provide flexible capital solutions to its investee companies and compelling risk-reward investment opportunities to our investors.

•Asian Special Situations: Our Asian special situations strategy focuses on primary and secondary special situation across the Asia Pacific region. Our team primarily targets restructuring-related situations, deep value acquisitions and last-mile financing.

•Asian Secured Lending: Our Asian secured lending strategy targets high quality, privately sourced direct lending loans that do not exhibit financial strain. Our team primarily targets investments in secured loans, growth capital financing and acquisition financing, leveraging our deep set of relationships and coverage to enable direct origination across the Asia Pacific region.

Ares Insurance Solutions: AIS is Ares Management's dedicated, in-house team that provides solutions to insurance clients including asset management, capital solutions and corporate development. Leveraging over 525 investment professionals across the firm’s investment groups, AIS creates tailored investment solutions that meet the unique objectives of our insurance clients. AIS strives to provide insurers with differentiated investment solutions with attractive risk and capital adjusted return profiles that fit within regulatory, rating agency and other counterparty guidelines. AIS is overseen by an experienced management team with direct insurance industry experience in many areas directly applicable to AIS and our insurance company clients. Members of the Ares team have previously held senior positions at leading insurers. AIS acts as the dedicated investment manager, capital solutions and corporate development partner to Aspida Life Re Ltd. (“Aspida”), an insurance company that focuses on the U.S. life and annuity insurance and reinsurance markets. In addition, AIS provides key strategic advantages to Aspida, including insurance investment experience, differentiated asset origination, asset-liability and capital solutions and access to capital.

The following charts present Strategic Initiatives’ AUM and FPAUM as of December 31, 2020 by investment strategy ($ in billions):

AUM: $9.3 FPAUM: $6.6

Asian Special Situations Insurance Asian Secured Lending

Product Offering

To meet investors’ growing demand for alternative investments, we manage investments in an increasingly comprehensive range of funds across a spectrum of compelling and complementary strategies. We have demonstrated an ability to consistently generate attractive and differentiated investment returns across these investment strategies and through various market environments. We believe the breadth of our product offering, our expertise in various investment strategies and our proficiency in attracting and satisfying our growing institutional and retail client base has enabled and will continue to enable us to increase our AUM across each of our investment groups.

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Investor Base and Fundraising

Our diverse investor base includes direct institutional relationships and a significant number of retail investors. Our high-quality institutional investor base includes corporate and public pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, banks, investment managers, endowments and foundations. We have grown the number of these relationships from approximately 650 in 2015 to over 1,090 in 2020.

As of December 31, 2020, $143.1 billion, or 73% of our $197.0 billion of AUM, was attributable to our direct institutional relationships. As of December 31, 2020, our total AUM was divided by channel, and further our institutional direct AUM by client type and geographic origin as follows ($ in billions):

Institutional Direct	Public Entities and Related	Institutional Intermediaries	Pension	Bank/ Private Bank	Insurance	North America	Europe	Asia
			Sovereign Wealth Fund	Investment Manager	Other	Middle East	Australia	Other
			Endowment

The following chart presents the AUM of investors committed to more than one of our funds as of December 31, 2020 compared to December 31, 2015 ($ in billions):

We believe that the AUM of multi-fund investors demonstrates our investors’ satisfaction with our performance, disciplined management of their capital and diverse product offering. Their loyalty has facilitated the growth of our existing businesses and we believe improves our ability to raise new funds and successor funds in existing strategies in the future.

Institutional investors are demonstrating a growing interest in SMAs, which include contractual arrangements and single investor vehicles and funds, because these accounts can provide investors with greater levels of transparency, liquidity and control over their investments as compared to more traditional commingled funds. As of December 31, 2020, $45.0 billion, or 31%, of our direct institutional AUM was managed through SMAs. Our publicly traded entities and their affiliates, including

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ARCC, ACRE and ARDC, account for $21.9 billion of our AUM. We have over 610 institutional investors and over 200,000 retail investor accounts across our three publicly traded vehicles.

We believe that client relationships are fundamental to our business and that our performance across our investment groups coupled with our focus on client service has resulted in strong relationships with our investors. Our dedicated and extensive in-house strategy and relationship management teams, comprised of approximately 140 professionals located in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, is dedicated to raising capital globally across all of our funds, servicing existing fund investors and tailoring offerings to meet their needs, developing products to complement our existing offerings, and deepening existing relationships to expand them across our platform. We also have a strategic joint venture with Fidante Partners focused on expanding our presence in Australia. Our senior relationship management team maintains an active and transparent dialogue with an expansive list of investors. This team is supported by product managers and investor relations professionals, with deep experience in each of our complementary investment groups, who are dedicated to servicing our existing and prospective investors.

Operations Management Group

The OMG consists of shared resource groups to support our reportable segments by providing infrastructure and administrative support in the areas of accounting/finance, operations, information technology, strategy and relationship management, legal, compliance and human resources. Our clients seek to partner with investment management firms that not only have compelling investment track records across multiple investment products but also possess seasoned infrastructure support functions. As such, significant investments have been made to develop the OMG. We have successfully launched new business lines, integrated acquired businesses into the operations and created scale within the OMG to support a much larger platform in the future.

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Organizational Structure

The simplified diagram below (which omits certain intermediate holding companies) depicts our legal organizational structure. Ownership information in the diagram below is presented as of December 31, 2020. Ares Management Corporation is a holding company and through subsidiaries is the general partner of each of the Ares Operating Group entities and operates and controls the business and affairs of the Ares Operating Group. Ares Management Corporation consolidates the financial results of the Ares Operating Group entities, their consolidated subsidiaries and certain consolidated funds.

(1)Assuming the full exchange of Ares Operating Group Units for shares of our Class A common stock, as of December 31, 2020, Ares Owners Holdings L.P. would hold 51.19% and the public would hold 48.81% of Ares Management Corporation.

(2)On February 17, 2021, our board of directors adopted resolutions authorizing a Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation in connection with an internal reorganization that is expected to occur on or about April 1, 2021. The internal reorganization will consist of, among other matters, a merger of each of Ares Investments and Ares Offshore Holdings, with and into Ares Holdings.

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Holding Company Structure

The Company elected to be treated as a corporation for U.S. federal and state income tax purposes (the “Tax Election”) effective March 1, 2018. In addition, the Company completed its state law conversion from a Delaware limited partnership to a Delaware corporation (the “Conversion”) effective on November 26, 2018 (the “Effective Date”). At the Effective Date, (i) each common share of the Company outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Date converted into one issued and outstanding, fully paid and nonassessable share of Class A common stock, $0.01 par value per share, of the Company, (ii) the general partner share of the Company outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Date converted into 1,000 issued and outstanding, fully paid and nonassessable shares of Class B common stock, $0.01 par value per share of the Company, (iii) the special voting share of the Company outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Date converted into one issued and outstanding, fully paid and nonassessable share of Class C common stock, $0.01 par value per share, of the Company, and (iv) each preferred share of the Company outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Date converted into one issued and outstanding, fully paid and nonassessable share of the Series A Preferred Stock.

As a result of the Conversion, except as otherwise expressly provided in the Certificate of Incorporation, our common stockholders are entitled to vote on all matters on which stockholders of a corporation are generally entitled to vote under the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”), including the election of our board of directors. Holders of shares of our Class A common stock became entitled to one vote per share of our Class A common stock. On any date on which the Ares Ownership Condition (as defined in the Certificate of Incorporation) is satisfied, holders of shares of our Class B common stock are, in the aggregate, entitled to a number of votes equal to (x) four times the aggregate number of votes attributable to our Class A common stock minus (y) the aggregate number of votes attributable to our Class C common stock. On any date on which the Ares Ownership Condition is not satisfied, holders of shares of our Class B common stock are not entitled to vote on any matter submitted to a vote of our stockholders. The holder of shares of our Class C common stock is generally entitled to a number of votes equal to the number of Ares Operating Group Units (as defined in the Certificate of Incorporation) held of record by each Ares Operating Group Limited Partner (as defined in the Certificate of Incorporation) other than the Company and its subsidiaries. Ares Management GP LLC is the sole holder of shares of our Class B common stock and Ares Voting LLC is the sole holder of shares of our Class C common stock. Our Class B common stock and our Class C common stock are non-economic and holders thereof shall not be entitled to (i) dividends from the Company or (ii) receive any assets of the Company in the event of any dissolution, liquidation or winding up of the Company. Ares Management GP LLC and Ares Voting LLC are both wholly owned by Ares Partners Holdco LLC. As a result, the Company is a “controlled company” within the meaning of the corporate governance standards of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) and qualifies for exceptions from certain corporate governance rules of the NYSE. Except as provided in the Certificate of Incorporation and the Company’s Bylaws and under the DGCL and the rules of the NYSE, shares of the Series A Preferred Stock are generally non-voting.

Accordingly, Ares Management Corporation and any direct subsidiaries of Ares Management Corporation that are treated as corporations for U.S. federal income tax purposes and that are the holders of Ares Operating Group Units are (and, in the case of Ares Offshore Holdings, Ltd., may be) subject to U.S. federal, state and local income taxes in respect of their interests in the Ares Operating Group entities. The Ares Operating Group entities are treated as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax purposes. An entity that is treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes generally incurs no U.S. federal income tax liability at the entity level. Instead, each partner is required to take into account its allocable share of items of income, gain, loss, deduction and credit of the partnership in computing its U.S. federal, state and local income tax liability each taxable year, whether or not cash distributions are made.

Each of the Ares Operating Group entities has an identical number of partnership units outstanding. Ares Management Corporation holds through subsidiaries a number of Ares Operating Group Units equal to the number of shares of Class A common stock that Ares Management Corporation has issued. The Ares Operating Group Units held by Ares Management Corporation and its subsidiaries are economically identical in all respects to the Ares Operating Group Units that are not held by Ares Management Corporation and its subsidiaries. Accordingly, Ares Management Corporation receives the distributive share of income of the Ares Operating Group from its equity interest in the Ares Operating Group.

Structure and Operation of our Funds

We conduct the management of our funds and other similar private vehicles primarily through organizing a partnership or limited liability structure in which entities organized by us accept commitments and/or funds for investment from institutional investors and other investors. Such commitments are generally drawn down from investors on an as needed basis to fund investments over a specified term. Our Credit Group funds also include structured funds in which the investor’s capital is fully funded into the fund upon or soon after the subscription for interests in the fund. The CLOs that we manage are structured investment vehicles that are generally private limited liability companies. Our drawdown funds are generally organized as limited partnerships or limited liability companies. However, there are non-U.S. funds that are structured as corporate or non-

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partnership entities under applicable law. We also advise a number of investors through SMA relationships structured as contractual arrangements or single investor vehicles. In the case of our SMAs that are not structured as single investor vehicles, the investor, rather than us, generally controls custody of the investments with respect to which we advise. We also manage a closed-end interval fund that allows for periodic redemptions of the various share classes. Three of the vehicles that we manage are publicly traded corporations. The publicly traded corporations do not have redemption provisions or a requirement to return capital to investors upon exiting the investments made with such capital, except as required by applicable law (including distribution requirements that must be met to maintain RIC or REIT status). However, ACRE’s charter includes certain limitations relating to the ownership or purported transfer of its common stock in violation of the REIT ownership requirements.

Our funds are generally advised by Ares Management LLC, which is registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Advisers Act”) or a wholly owned subsidiary thereof. Responsibility for the day-to-day operations of each investment vehicle is typically delegated to the Ares entity serving as investment adviser pursuant to an investment advisory, management or similar agreement. Generally, the material terms of our investment advisory agreements relate to the scope of services to be rendered by the investment adviser to the applicable vehicle, the calculation of management fees to be borne by investors in our investment vehicles and certain rights of termination with respect to our investment advisory agreements. With the exception of certain of the publicly traded investment vehicles, the investment vehicles themselves do not generally register as investment companies under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), in reliance on applicable exemptions thereunder.

The governing agreements of many of our funds provide that, subject to certain conditions, third-party investors in those funds have the right to terminate the investment period or the fund without cause. The governing agreements of some of our funds provide that, subject to certain conditions, third-party investors have the right to remove the general partner. In addition, the governing agreements of certain of our funds provide that upon the occurrence of certain events, including in the event that certain “key persons” in our funds depart the firm, do not meet specified time commitments or engage in bad acts, the investment period will be suspended or the investors have the right to vote to terminate the investment period in accordance with specified procedures.

Fee Structure

Management Fees

The investment adviser of our funds generally receive an annual management fee based on a percentage of the fund’s capital commitments, contributed capital, net asset value or invested capital during the investment period and based on invested capital after the investment period, and for certain of our SMAs, we receive an annual management fee based on a percentage of invested capital, contributed capital or net asset value throughout the term of the SMA. We also may receive special fees, including commitment, arrangement, underwriting, agency, portfolio management, monitoring and other similar fees, some of which may be accelerated upon a sale of the underlying portfolio investment. In certain circumstances we are contractually required to offset certain amounts of such special fees against future management fees relating to the applicable fund. In addition, we may receive transaction fees from certain affiliated funds for activities related to fund transactions, such as loan originations.

The investment adviser of each of our CLOs typically receives annual management fees based on the gross aggregate collateral balance for CLOs, at par, adjusted for defaulted or discounted collateral. The management fees of CLOs accounted for approximately 3% of our total management fees on a consolidated basis and 7% on an unconsolidated basis for the year ended December 31, 2020.

The management fees we receive from our drawdown style funds are typically payable on a quarterly basis over the life of the fund and do not fluctuate with the changes in investment performance of the fund. The investment management agreements we enter into with clients in connection with contractual SMAs may generally be terminated by such clients with reasonably short prior written notice. The management fees we receive from our SMAs are generally paid on a periodic basis (typically quarterly, subject to the termination rights described above) and are based on either invested capital or on the net asset value of the separately managed account.

We receive management fees in accordance with the investment advisory and management agreements we have with the publicly traded vehicles we manage. Base management fees we receive from ARCC are paid quarterly and proportionately increase or decrease based on ARCC’s total assets (reduced by cash and cash equivalents). ARCC Part I Fees are also generally paid quarterly and proportionately increase or decrease based on ARCC’s net investment income (before ARCC Part I Fees and ARCC Part II Fees (as defined in “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of

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Operations—Components of Consolidated Results of Operations—Revenues”)), subject to a fixed hurdle rate. We classify ARCC Part I Fees as management fees as they are predictable and recurring in nature, and not subject to contingent repayment. Management fees we receive from ARDC are generally paid monthly and proportionately increase or decrease based on the closed-end fund's total assets minus liabilities (other than liabilities relating to indebtedness). Management fees we receive from ACRE are generally paid quarterly based on ACRE’s stockholders’ equity. Our investment management agreements of our permanent capital vehicles must be reviewed or approved annually by their boards of directors (including a majority of its independent directors).

Performance Income

We may receive performance income from our funds that may be either an incentive fee or a special allocation of income, which we refer to as carried interest. Performance income is recorded by us when specified investment returns are achieved by the fund. We typically award certain of our professionals with participation in such performance income.

Incentive Fees

The general partners, managers or similar entities of certain of our funds receive performance-based fees. These fees are generally based on the net appreciation per annum of the applicable fund, subject to certain net loss carry-forward provisions, high-watermarks and/or preferred returns. Such performance based fees may also be based on a fund’s cumulative net appreciation to date, in some cases subject to a high-watermark or a preferred return. Incentive fees are realized at the end of a measurement period, typically quarterly or annually. Realized incentive fees are generally higher during the second half of the year due to the nature of certain Credit Group funds that typically realize incentive fees at the end of the calendar year. Once realized, such performance based fees are generally not subject to repayment. Cash from the realizations is typically received in the period subsequent to the measurement period.

Incentive Fees from Publicly Traded Vehicles

We are entitled to receive incentive fees in accordance with the investment advisory and management agreements we have with ARCC and ACRE. We may receive ARCC Part II Fees, which are not paid unless ARCC achieves cumulative aggregate realized capital gains (net of cumulative aggregate realized capital losses and aggregate unrealized capital depreciation). Incentive fees we receive from ACRE are based on a percentage of the difference between ACRE’s core earnings (as defined in ACRE’s management agreement) and an amount derived from the weighted average issue price per share of ACRE’s common stock in its public offerings multiplied by the weighted average number of shares of ACRE's common stock outstanding.

Carried Interest

The general partner or an affiliate of certain of our funds may be entitled to receive carried interest from a fund. Carried interest entitles the general partner (or an affiliate) to a special allocation of income and gains from a fund, and is typically structured as a net profits interest in the applicable fund. Carried interest is generally calculated on a “realized gain” basis, and the general partner of a fund is generally entitled to a carried interest between 10% and 20% of the net realized income and gains (generally taking into account unrealized losses) generated by such fund. Net realized income or loss is not netted between or among funds.

Funds generally follow either an American-style waterfall or European-style waterfall. For American-style waterfalls, the general partner is entitled to receive carried interest after a fund investment is realized if the investors in the fund have received distributions in excess of the capital contributed for such investment and all prior realized investments (plus allocable expenses), as well as the preferred return. For European-style waterfalls, the general partner is entitled to receive carried interest if the investors in the fund have received distributions in an amount equal to all prior capital contributions plus a preferred return.

For most funds, the carried interest is subject to a preferred return ranging from 5% to 8%, subject in most cases to a catch-up allocation to the general partner. Generally, if at the termination of a fund (and in some cases at interim points in the life of a fund), the fund has not achieved investment returns that exceed the preferred return threshold or the general partner receives net profits over the life of the fund in excess of its allocable share under the applicable partnership agreement, the general partner will be obligated to repay an amount equal to the extent the previously distributed carried interest exceeds the amounts to which the general partner is entitled. These repayment obligations may be related to amounts previously distributed to us and our senior professionals and are generally referred to as contingent repayment obligations.

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Although a portion of any dividends paid by us may include carried interest received by us, we do not intend to seek fulfillment of any contingent repayment obligation by seeking to have holders of our Class A common stock return any portion of such dividends attributable to carried interest associated with any contingent repayment obligation. Contingent repayment obligations operate with respect to only a given fund’s net investment performance and carried interest of other funds are not netted for determining this contingent obligation. Although a contingent repayment obligation is several to each person who received a distribution, and not a joint obligation, and our professionals who receive carried interest have guaranteed repayment of such contingent obligation, the governing agreements of our funds generally provide that, if a recipient does not fund his or her respective share, we may have to fund such additional amounts beyond the amount of carried interest we retained, although we generally will retain the right to pursue remedies against those carried interest recipients who fail to fund their obligations.

Certain funds may make distributions to their partners to provide them with cash sufficient to pay applicable federal, state and local tax liabilities attributable to the fund's income that is allocated to them. These distributions are referred to as tax distributions and are not subject to contingent repayment obligations.

For additional information concerning the contingent repayment obligations we could face, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors— We may need to pay “clawback” or “contingent repayment” obligations if and when they are triggered under the governing agreements with our funds.”

Capital Invested In and Through Our Funds

To further align our interests with those of investors in our funds, we have invested the firm’s capital and that of our professionals in the funds we sponsor and manage. General partner capital commitments to our funds are determined separately with respect to our funds and, generally, are less than 5% of the total commitments of any particular fund. We determine the general partner capital commitments based on a variety of factors, including regulatory requirements, investor requirements, estimates regarding liquidity over the estimated time period during which commitments will be funded, estimates regarding the amounts of capital that may be appropriate for other opportunities or other funds we may be in the process of raising or are considering raising, prevailing industry standards with respect to sponsor commitments and our general working capital requirements. We generally offer a portion of the general partner commitments to our eligible professionals in accordance with the Investment Company Act. Our general partner capital commitments are typically funded with cash and not with carried interest or deferral of management fees. For more information, see “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Sources and Uses of Liquidity.”

Regulatory and Compliance Matters

Our businesses, as well as the financial services industry, generally are subject to extensive regulation, including periodic examinations, by governmental agencies and self-regulatory organizations or exchanges in the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions in which we operate relating to, among other things, antitrust laws, anti-money laundering laws, anti-bribery laws relating to foreign officials, tax laws and privacy laws with respect to client and other information, and some of our funds invest in businesses that operate in highly regulated industries. Each of the regulatory bodies with jurisdiction over us has regulatory powers dealing with many aspects of financial services, including the authority to grant, and in specific circumstances to cancel, permissions to carry on particular activities. Any failure to comply with these rules and regulations could expose us to liability and/or reputational damage. Additional legislation, increasing global regulatory oversight of fundraising activities, changes in rules promulgated by self-regulatory organizations or exchanges or changes in the interpretation or enforcement of existing laws and rules, either in the United States or elsewhere, may directly affect our mode of operation and profitability. See “Item 1A. Risk Factors-Risks Related to Regulation-Extensive regulation affects our activities, increases the cost of doing business and creates the potential for significant liabilities and penalties that could adversely affect our businesses and results of operations,” “-Failure to comply with “pay to play” regulations implemented by the SEC and certain states, and changes to the “pay to play” regulatory regimes, could adversely affect our businesses,” and “-Regulatory changes in jurisdictions outside the United States could adversely affect our businesses,” “-Adverse incidents with respect to ESG activities could impact our or our portfolio companies’ reputation, the cost of our or their operations, or result in investors ceasing to allocate their capital to us, all of which could adversely affect our business and results of operations,” and “-Regulations governing ARCC’s operation as a business development company affects its ability to raise, and the way in which it raises, additional capital.”

Rigorous legal and compliance analysis of our businesses and investments is important to our culture. We strive to maintain a culture of compliance through the use of policies and procedures such as oversight compliance, codes of ethics, compliance systems, communication of compliance guidance and employee education and training. All employees must annually certify their understanding of and compliance with key global Ares policies, procedures and code of ethics. We have a compliance group that monitors our compliance with the regulatory requirements to which we are subject and manages our compliance policies and procedures. Our Chief Compliance Officer supervises our compliance group, which is responsible for

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monitoring all regulatory and compliance matters that affect our activities. Our compliance policies and procedures address a variety of regulatory and compliance risks such as the handling of material non-public information, position reporting, personal securities trading, valuation of investments on a fund-specific basis, document retention, potential conflicts of interest and the allocation of investment opportunities.

Many jurisdictions in which we operate have laws and regulations relating to data privacy, cybersecurity and protection of personal information, including the General Data Protection Regulation, which expands data protection rules for individuals within the European Union (the “EU”) and for personal data exported outside the EU, and the California Consumer Privacy Act, which creates new rights and obligations related to personal data of residents (and households) in California. Any determination of a failure to comply with any such laws or regulations could result in fines and/or sanctions, as well as reputational harm. Moreover, to the extent that these laws and regulations or the enforcement of the same become more stringent, or if new laws or regulations or enacted, our financial performance or plans for growth may be adversely impacted.

United States

The SEC oversees the activities of our subsidiaries that are registered investment advisers under the Investment Advisers Act. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) and the SEC oversee the activities of our wholly owned subsidiary Ares Investor Services LLC (“AIS LLC”), as a registered broker-dealer. In connection with certain investments made by funds in our Private Equity Group, certain of our subsidiaries and funds are subject to audits by the Defense Security Service to determine whether we are under foreign ownership, control or influence. In addition, we regularly rely on exemptions from various requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), the Investment Company Act, the Commodity Exchange Act and the U.S. Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”). These exemptions are sometimes highly complex and may in certain circumstances depend on compliance by third parties who we do not control.

Additionally, the SEC and various self-regulatory organizations have in recent years increased their regulatory activities in respect of investment management firms. See “Item 1A. Risk Factors-Risks Related to Regulation- Extensive regulation affects our activities, increases the cost of doing business and creates the potential for significant liabilities and penalties that could adversely affect our businesses and results of operations.” Effective September 2019, the SEC adopted a rule that requires a broker-dealer, or a natural person who is an associated person of a broker-dealer, to act in the best interest of a retail customer when making a recommendation of any securities transaction or investment strategy involving securities, without placing the financial or other interest of the broker, dealer or natural person who is an associated person of a broker-dealer making the recommendation ahead of the interest of the retail customer. The term “retail customer” is defined as a natural person who uses such a recommendation primarily for personal, family or household purposes, without reference to investor sophistication or net worth. The “best interest” standard would be satisfied through compliance with certain disclosure, duty of care, conflict of interest mitigation and compliance obligations. While the rule has been challenged by litigation, full implementation began in June 2020, and compliance with the rule will likely impose additional costs to us, in particular with respect to our product offerings and investment platforms that include retail investors.

Funds and Portfolio Companies of our Funds

All of our funds are advised by SEC registered investment advisers (or wholly owned subsidiaries thereof). Registered investment advisers are subject to more stringent requirements and regulations under the Investment Advisers Act than unregistered investment advisers. Such requirements relate to, among other things, fiduciary duties to clients, maintaining an effective compliance program, managing conflicts of interest and general anti-fraud prohibitions. In addition, the SEC requires investment advisers registered or required to register with the SEC under the Investment Advisers Act that advise one or more private funds and have at least $150 million in private fund assets under management to periodically file reports on Form PF. We have filed, and will continue to file, quarterly reports on Form PF, which has resulted in increased administrative costs and a significant amount of attention and time to be spent by our personnel.

Further, the SEC has highlighted valuation practices as one of its areas of focus in investment adviser examinations and has instituted enforcement actions against advisers for misleading investors about valuation. If the SEC were to investigate and find errors in our methodologies or procedures, we and/or members of our management could be subject to penalties and fines, which could harm our reputation and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

ARCC is a registered investment company that has elected to be treated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act. ARDC and certain other funds are registered investment companies under the Investment Company Act. Each of the registered investment companies has elected, for U.S. federal tax purposes, to be treated as a regulated

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investment company (“RIC”) under Subchapter M of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). To maintain its RIC status under the Code, a RIC must timely distribute an amount equal to at least 90% of its investment company taxable income (as defined by the Code, which generally includes net ordinary income and net short term capital gains) to its stockholders. In addition, a RIC generally will be required to pay an excise tax equal to 4% on certain undistributed taxable income unless it distributes in a timely manner an amount at least equal to the sum of (i) 98% of its ordinary income recognized during a calendar year and (ii) 98.2% of its capital gain net income, as defined by the Code, recognized during the one-year period ending on October 31 of the calendar year and (iii) any income recognized, but not distributed, in preceding years. The taxable income on which a RIC pays excise tax is generally distributed to its stockholders in the next tax year. Depending on the level of taxable income earned in a tax year, a RIC may choose to carry forward such taxable income for distribution in the following year, and pay any applicable excise tax. In addition, as a business development company, ARCC must not acquire any assets other than “qualifying assets” specified in the Investment Company Act unless, at the time the acquisition is made, at least 70% of ARCC’s total assets are qualifying assets (with certain limited exceptions). Qualifying assets include investments in “eligible portfolio companies.” ARCC is also generally prohibited from issuing and selling its common stock at a price below net asset value per share and from incurring indebtedness (including for this purpose, preferred stock), if ARCC’s asset coverage, as calculated pursuant to the Investment Company Act, equals less than 150% after such incurrence.

ACRE has elected and qualified to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, under the Code. To maintain its qualification as a REIT, ACRE must distribute at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders and meet, on a continuing basis, certain other complex requirements under the Code.

AIS LLC, our wholly owned subsidiary, is registered as a broker-dealer with the SEC, which maintains licenses in many states, and is a member of FINRA. As a broker-dealer, this subsidiary is subject to regulation and oversight by the SEC and state securities regulators. In addition, FINRA, a self-regulatory organization that is subject to oversight by the SEC, promulgates and enforces rules governing the conduct of, and examines the activities of, its member firms. Due to the limited authority granted to our subsidiary in its capacity as a broker-dealer, it is not required to comply with certain regulations covering trade practices among broker-dealers and the use and safekeeping of customers’ funds and securities. As a registered broker-dealer and member of a self-regulatory organization, AIS LLC is, however, subject to the SEC’s uniform net capital rule. Rule 15c3-1 of the Exchange Act, which specifies the minimum level of net capital a broker-dealer must maintain and also requires that a significant part of a broker-dealer’s assets be kept in relatively liquid form. See “Item 1A. Risk Factors-Risks Related to Our Businesses-Political and regulatory conditions, including the effects of negative publicity surrounding the financial industry in general and proposed legislation, could adversely affect our businesses.”

Other Jurisdictions

Certain of our subsidiaries operate outside the United States. In Luxembourg, Ares Management Luxembourg (“AM Lux”) is subject to authorization and regulation by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (“CSSF”). In the United Kingdom (the “U.K.”), Ares Management Limited (“AML”) and Ares Management UK Limited (“AMUKL”) are subject to regulation and authorization by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (“the FCA”). Ares European Loan Management LLP (“AELM”), which is not a subsidiary, but in which we are indirectly invested and which procures certain services from AML, is also subject to regulation by the FCA. In some circumstances, AML, AMUKL, AELM and other Ares entities are or become subject to U.K. or EU laws, for instance in relation to marketing our funds to investors in the European Economic Area (the “EEA”).

The U.K. exited the EU on January 31, 2020. The withdrawal agreement between the U.K. and the EU provided for a transitional period to allow for the terms of the U.K.'s future relationship with the EU to be negotiated, which ended on December 31, 2020. EEA passporting rights are no longer available to the relevant U.K. entities following the end of the transitional period. Various EU laws have been “on-shored” into domestic U.K. legislation and certain transitional regimes and deficiency-correction powers exist to ease the transition. The U.K. and the EU announced, on December 24, 2020, that they have reached agreement on a new Trade and Cooperation Agreement (the “TCA”), which addresses the future relationship between the parties. Notwithstanding the TCA, there remains considerable uncertainty as to the nature of the U.K.’s future relationship with the EU (particularly in the sphere of financial services), creating continuing uncertainty as to the full extent to which the businesses of the U.K. Regulated Entities could be adversely affected by Brexit. See “Item 1A. Risk Factors-Risks Related to Our Businesses-The U.K.’s exit from the EU (“Brexit”) could adversely affect our business and our operations.” Despite the U.K.’s departure from the EU, new and existing EU legislation is expected to continue to impact our business in the U.K. (whether because its effect is preserved in the U.K. as a matter of domestic policy or because compliance with such legislation (whether in whole or part) is a necessary condition for market access into the EEA) and other EEA member states where we have operations. The U.K.'s departure has the potential to change the legislative and regulatory frameworks within which AML, AMUKL and AELM operate, which could adversely affect our businesses or cause a material increase in our tax liability.

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AMUKL, AM Lux, AML and AELM (the “European Entities”) all operate within EU legislative frameworks, which include legislation that is both directly applicable to the European Entities and legislation that must be implemented by EEA member states at a national level. Notwithstanding the U.K.'s withdrawal from the EU, AML, AMUKL and AELM as UK-based firms generally continue to be regulated under European legislative frameworks as such frameworks have been preserved in UK law as a matter of policy (subject to amendments to operate properly in a post-Brexit context). When implementing EU measures at a national level, member states often have some degree of discretion as to the manner of implementation, and as a result the rules in some areas are not harmonized across the EEA. In addition, member states may have their own national laws and rules governing the operation of firms in the financial sector which are unrelated to any European legislative initiative. In some circumstances other Ares entities are or become subject to EU laws or the law of EEA member states, including with respect to marketing our funds to investors in the EEA.

AM Lux and AMUKL are both alternative investment fund managers (“AIFMs”). Their operations are primarily governed by Directive 2011/61/EU on Alternative Investment Fund Managers and other associated legislation, rules and guidance (“AIFMD” or the “Directive”). The U.K. implemented AIFMD while it was still a member of the EU and similar requirements therefore continue to apply in the U.K. notwithstanding Brexit. The AIFMD imposes significant regulatory requirements on AIFMs established in the EEA. AIFMD regulates fund managers by, amongst other things, prescribing authorization conditions for an AIFM, restricting the activities that can be undertaken by an AIFM, prescribing the organizational requirements, operating conditions, and regulatory standards relating to such things as initial capital, remuneration, conflicts, risk management, leverage, liquidity management, delegation of duties, transparency and reporting requirement, etc. The European Commission is currently reviewing AIFMD and launched a public consultation in October 2020 on potential improvements to the regulatory framework. This is expected to result in new legislation, possibly in 2021 (commonly referred to as “AIFMD II”). It is unclear at this stage whether and how AIFMD II will affect us or our subsidiaries.

AML and AELM are both investment firms within the meaning of Directive 2014/65/EU on Markets in Financial Instruments (“MiFID II”). The operations of AML and AELM are primarily governed by UK laws and regulatory rules implementing MiFID II, the accompanying Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation 600/2014/EU (“MiFIR”) and other associated legislation, rules and guidance. The main business of the European Entities is to provide asset management services to clients from within the EEA. The European Entities operate primarily within different regulatory frameworks in part because they provide different services to different types of clients.

MiFID II and MiFIR extended the Markets and Financial Instruments Directive (“MiFID”) requirements in a number of areas and require investment firms to comply with more prescriptive and onerous obligations in relation to such things as: costs and charges disclosure, product design and governance, the receipt and payment of inducements, the receipt of and payment for investment research, suitability and appropriateness assessments, conflicts of interest, record-keeping, best execution, transaction and trade reporting, remuneration, training and competence and corporate governance. Although the UK has now withdrawn from the EU, its rules implementing MiFID II continue to have effect and MiFIR has been on-shored into UK law (subject to certain amendments to ensure it operates properly in a UK-specific context) in connection with this withdrawal.

The UK is introducing a new prudential regulatory framework for UK investment firms (the “Investment Firm Prudential Regime” or “IFPR”), which will be closely based on an equivalent regulatory framework being introduced at EU level through the EU Investment Firm Regulation and Investment Firm Directive. IFPR is expected to take effect from January 1, 2022 and will apply to Ares Management Limited and Ares European Loan Management LLP as U.K. MiFID investment firms. The extent to which the IFPR will apply to Ares Management UK Limited, as a U.K. AIFM with a MiFID “top-up” permission, is as yet unclear and further clarity on this point is expected to emerge in future FCA consultations on the new regime. This new prudential regime is expected to result in higher regulatory capital requirements for some affected firms and new, more onerous remuneration rules, as well as re-cut and extended internal governance, disclosure, reporting, liquidity, and group “prudential” consolidation requirements (among other things).

Our operations and our investment activities worldwide are subject to a variety of regulatory regimes that vary by country. These include Ares SSG Capital Management Limited, which is subject to regulation by various regulatory authorities, including the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong and Monetary Authority of Singapore. In addition, as the ultimate parent of the controlling entity of Aspida Life Re Ltd, a Bermuda Class E insurance company, we are considered its “shareholder controller” (as defined in the Bermuda Insurance Act) by the Bermuda Monetary Authority.

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Competition

The investment management industry is intensely competitive, and we expect it to remain so. We compete globally and on a regional, industry and asset basis.

We face competition both in the pursuit of fund investors and investment opportunities. Generally, our competition varies across business lines, geographies and financial markets. We compete for outside investors based on a variety of factors, including investment performance, investor perception of investment managers’ drive, focus and alignment of interest, quality of service provided to and duration of relationship with investors, breadth of our product offering, business reputation and the level of fees and expenses charged for services. We compete for investment opportunities both at our funds and for strategic acquisitions by us based on a variety of factors, including breadth of market coverage and relationships, access to capital, transaction execution skills, the range of products and services offered, innovation and price, and we expect that competition will continue to increase.

We expect to face competition in our direct lending, trading, acquisitions and other investment activities primarily from business development companies, credit and real estate funds, specialized funds, hedge fund sponsors, financial institutions, private equity funds, corporate buyers and other parties. Many of these competitors in some of our businesses are substantially larger and have considerably greater financial, technical and marketing resources than are available to us. Many of these competitors have similar investment objectives to us, which may create additional competition for investment opportunities. Some of these competitors may also have a lower cost of capital and access to funding sources that are not available to us, which may create competitive disadvantages for us with respect to investment opportunities. In addition, some of these competitors may have higher risk tolerances, different risk assessments or lower return thresholds, which could allow them to consider a wider variety of investments and to bid more aggressively than us for investments that we want to make. Corporate buyers may be able to achieve synergistic cost savings with regard to an investment that may provide them with a competitive advantage in bidding for an investment. Lastly, institutional and individual investors are allocating increasing amounts of capital to alternative investment strategies. Several large institutional investors have announced a desire to consolidate their investments in a more limited number of managers. We expect that this will cause competition in our industry to intensify and could lead to a reduction in the size and duration of pricing inefficiencies that many of our funds seek to exploit.

Competition is also intense for the attraction and retention of qualified employees. Our ability to continue to compete effectively in our businesses will depend upon our ability to attract new employees and retain and motivate our existing employees.

For additional information concerning the competitive risks that we face, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Businesses—The investment management business is intensely competitive.”

Available Information

Ares Management Corporation is a Delaware corporation. Our principal executive offices are located at 2000 Avenue of the Stars, 12th Floor, Los Angeles, California 90067, and our telephone number is (310) 201-4100.

Our website address is http://www.aresmgmt.com. Information on our website is not a part of this report and is not incorporated by reference herein. We make available free of charge on our website or provide a link on our website to our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements and any amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable after those reports are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. To access these filings, go to the “Investor Resources” section of our website and then click on “SEC Filings.” In addition, these reports and the other documents we file with the SEC are available at a website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov.

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Item 1A. Risk Factors

Risk Factor Summary

Our businesses are subject to a number of inherent risks. We believe that the primary risks affecting our businesses and an investment in shares of our Class A common stock:

•we are subject to risks related to COVID-19 and measures taken to mitigate its impact and spread, which have affected and may continue to affect various aspects of our and our funds’ businesses;

•challenging market and political conditions in the United States and globally may reduce the value or hamper the performance of the investments made by us and our funds or impair the ability of our funds to raise or deploy capital;

•we operate in a complex regulatory and tax environment involving rules and regulations (both domestic and foreign), some of which are outdated relative to today’s global financial activities and some of which are subject to political influence, which could restrict or require us to adjust our operations or the operations of our funds or portfolio companies and subject us to increased compliance costs and administrative burdens, as well as restrictions on our business activities;

•if we are unable to raise capital from investors or deploy capital into investments, or if any of our management fees are waived or reduced, or if we fail to generate performance income, our revenues and cash flows would be materially reduced;

•we are subject to risks related to our dependency on our members of the Executive Management Committee, senior professionals and other key personnel as well as attracting and retaining and developing human capital in a highly competitive talent market;

•we may experience reputational harm if we fail to appropriately address conflicts of interest or if we, our employees, our funds or our portfolio companies fail (or are alleged to have failed) to comply with applicable regulations in an increasingly complex political and regulatory environment;

•we face intense competition in the investment management business;

•our growth strategy contemplates acquisitions and entering new lines of business and expanding into new investment strategies, geographic markets and businesses, which subject us to numerous risks, expenses and uncertainties, including related to the integration of development opportunities, acquisitions or joint ventures;

•we derive a significant portion of our management fees from ARCC;

•economic U.S. and foreign sanction laws may prohibit us and our affiliates from transacting with certain countries, individuals and companies;

•our international operations subject us to numerous regulatory and operational risks and expenses;

•we are subject to operational risks and risks in using prime brokers, custodians, counterparties, administrators and other agents;

•the increasing demands of fund investors, including the potential for fee compression and changes to other terms, could materially adversely affect our future revenues;

•we may be subject to cybersecurity risks and changes to data protection regulation;

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•we may be subject to litigation risks and related liabilities or risks related employee misconduct, fraud and other deceptive practices;

•the use of leverage by us and our funds exposes us to substantial risks, including related to changes to the method of determining LIBOR or the selection of a replacement for LIBOR;

•asset valuation methodologies can be highly subjective and the value of assets may not be realized;

•our funds may perform poorly due to market conditions, political actions or environments, monetary and fiscal policy or other conditions beyond our control;

•third-party investors in our funds may not satisfy their contractual obligation to fund capital calls;

•we are subject to risks relating to our contractual rights and obligations under our funds’ governing documents and investment management agreements;

•a downturn in the global credit markets could adversely affect our CLO investments;

•due to our and our funds’ investments in certain market sectors, such as power, infrastructure and energy, real estate and insurance, we are subject to risks and regulations inherent to those industries;

•if we were deemed to be an “investment company” under the Investment Company Act, applicable restrictions could make it impractical for us to continue our businesses as contemplated;

•due to the Holdco Members ownership and control of our shares of common stock, holders of our Class A common stock will generally have no influence over matters on which holders of our common stock vote and limited ability to influence decisions regarding our business;

•we are subject to risks related to our categorization as a “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE listing standards;

•potential conflicts of interest may arise among the holders of Class B and Class C common stock and the holders of our Class A common stock and preferred stock;

•our holding company structure, Delaware law and contractual restrictions may limit our ability to pay dividend to the holders of our Class A common stock and our dividends are non-cumulative;

•other anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents could delay or prevent a change in control;

•we are subject to risks related to our tax receivable agreement; and

•limitations on the amount of interest expense that we may deduct could materially increase our tax liability and negatively affect an investment in shares of our Class A common stock.

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Risks Related to Our Businesses

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe disruptions in the U.S. and global economy, has disrupted, and may continue to disrupt, industries in which we, our funds and our funds’ portfolio companies operate and could potentially negatively impact us, our funds or our funds’ portfolio companies.

Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a global and national health crisis, adversely impacted global commercial activity and contributed to significant volatility in equity and debt markets. Many countries and states in the United States, including those in which we, our funds’ and our funds’ portfolio companies operate, issued (and continue to re-issue) orders requiring the closure of, or certain restrictions on the operation of, nonessential businesses and/or requiring residents to stay at home. The COVID-19 pandemic and preventative measures taken to contain or mitigate its spread have caused, and are continuing to cause, business shutdowns or the re-introduction of business shutdowns, cancellations of events and restrictions on travel, significant reductions in demand for certain goods and services, reductions in business activity and financial transactions, supply chain interruptions and overall economic and financial market instability both globally and in the United States. Such measures, as well as the general uncertainty surrounding the dangers and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, have created significant disruption in supply chains and economic activity and have had a particularly adverse impact on the energy, hospitality, travel, retail and restaurant industries, as well as other industries, including industries in which certain of our funds’ portfolio companies operate. Such effects will likely continue for the duration of the pandemic, which is uncertain, and for some period thereafter. While several countries, as well as certain states, counties and cities in the United States, relaxed the early public health restrictions with a view to partially or fully reopening their economies, many cities, both globally and in the United States, have since experienced a surge in the reported number of cases and hospitalizations related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This increase in cases has led to the re-introduction of such restrictions and business shutdowns in certain states, counties and cities in the United States and globally and could lead to the re-introduction of such restrictions elsewhere. In December 2020, the Federal Food and Drug Administration authorized COVID‑19 vaccines and the distribution of such vaccines has commenced. However, it remains unclear how quickly the vaccines will be distributed nationwide and globally or when “herd immunity” will be achieved and whether the restrictions that were imposed to slow the spread of the virus will be lifted entirely. Ongoing restrictions and any delay in distributing the vaccines could lead people to continue to self-isolate and not participate in the economy at pre-pandemic levels for a prolonged period of time. Even after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, the U.S. economy and most other major global economies may continue to experience a recession, and we anticipate our and our funds’ business and operations, as well as the business and operations of our funds’ portfolio companies, could be materially adversely affected by a prolonged recession in the U.S. and other major markets.

The extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (including the restrictive measure taken in response thereto) on our and our funds’ operational and financial performance will depend on many factors, including the duration, severity and scope of the public health emergency, the actions taken by governmental authorities to contain its financial and economic impact, the continued implementation of travel advisories and restrictions, the impact of such public health emergency on overall supply and demand, goods and services, investor liquidity, consumer confidence and levels of economic activity and the extent of its disruption to global, regional and local supply chains and economic markets, all of which are uncertain and difficult to assess. The COVID-19 pandemic is continuing as of the filing date of this Annual Report and its extended duration may have further adverse impacts on our business, financial performance, operating results, cash flows and financial condition, including the market price of shares of our securities, including for the reasons described below.

The effects of a public health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic may materially and adversely impact our value and performance and the value and performance of our funds and our funds’ portfolio companies. Further, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may not be fully reflected in the valuation of our or our funds’ investments, which may differ materially from the values that we may ultimately realize with respect to such investments. Our valuations, and particularly valuations of our interests in our funds and our funds’ investments, reflect a moment in time, are inherently uncertain, may fluctuate over short periods of time and are often based on subjective estimates, comparisons and qualitative evaluations of private information. Valuations, on an unrealized basis, can also be significantly affected by a variety of external factors including, but not limited to, public equity market volatility, industry trading multiples and interest rates, all of which have been impacted and continue to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, the extreme volatility in the broader market and particularly in the energy markets has led to a broad decrease in valuations and such valuations may continue to decline and become increasingly difficult to ascertain. As a result, our valuations and the valuations of our interests in our funds and our funds’ investments, may not show the complete or continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting measures taken in response thereto. Accordingly, we and our funds may continue to incur additional net unrealized losses or may incur realized losses in the future, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Any public health emergency, including the COVID-19 pandemic or any outbreak of other existing or new epidemic diseases, or the threat thereof, and the resulting financial and economic market uncertainty could have a significant adverse impact on us,

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the fair value of our and our funds’ investments and could adversely impact our funds’ ability to fulfill our investment objectives.

Our ability to market and raise new or successor funds in the future may be impacted by the continuation and reintroduction of shelter-in-place orders, travel restrictions and social distancing requirements implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This may reduce or delay anticipated fee revenues. In addition, the significant volatility and declines in valuations in the global markets as well as liquidity concerns may impact our ability to raise funds or deter fund investors from investing in new or successor funds that we are marketing.

Our funds may experience a slowdown in the pace of their investment activity and capital deployment, which could also adversely affect the timing of raising capital for new or successor funds and could also impact the management fees we earn on funds that generate fees based on invested (and not committed) capital. While the increased volatility in the financial markets caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may present attractive investment opportunities, we or our funds may not be able to complete those investments due to, among other factors, increased competition or operational challenges such as our ability to obtain attractive financing, conduct due diligence and consummate the acquisition and disposition of investments for our funds because of continued and re-introduced shelter-in-place orders, travel restrictions and social distancing requirements.

If the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and current market conditions continue, we and our funds may have fewer opportunities to successfully exit investments, due to, among other reasons, lower valuations, decreased revenues and earnings, lack of potential buyers with financial resources or access to financing to pursue an acquisition, lack of refinancing markets, resulting in a reduced ability to realize value from such investments at attractive valuations or at all, and thereby negatively impacting our realized income.

Adverse market conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic may impact our liquidity. Our cash flows from management fees may be impacted by, among other things, a slowdown in fundraising or delayed deployment. Cash payment of adverse market conditions may make it difficult for us to refinance our existing indebtedness or obtain new indebtedness with similar terms and any failure to do so could have a material adverse effect on our business. The capital that will be available to us in the future, if at all, may be at a higher cost and on less favorable terms and conditions than we currently experience. While our senior professionals have historically made co-investments in our funds alongside our limited partners, thereby reducing our obligation to make such investments, due to financial uncertainty or liquidity concerns, our employees may be less likely to make co-investments, which would result in such general partner commitments remaining our obligation to fund and reducing our liquidity. In addition, our funds may be impacted due to failure by our fund investors to meet capital calls, which would negatively impact our funds’ ability to make investments or pay us management fees.

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a particularly severe impact on certain industries, including but not limited to the energy, hospitality, travel, retail and restaurant industries, which are industries in which some of our funds have made investments. Many of our funds’ portfolio companies in these industries have faced and are continuing to face operational and financial challenges resulting from the spread of COVID-19 and related governmental measures, such as the closure of stores, hotels, restaurants and other locations, restrictions on travel, quarantines or continued and re-introduced stay-at-home orders. As a result of these disruptions, the businesses, financial results and prospects of certain of these portfolio companies have already been severely affected and could continue to be so affected. This has caused and may in the future result in impairment and decrease in value of our funds’ investments, which may be material.

Our funds’ portfolio companies are also facing or may face in the future increased credit and liquidity risk due to volatility in financial markets, reduced or eliminated revenue streams, and limited or higher cost of access to preferred sources of funding. Changes in the debt financing markets are impacting, and, if the volatility in financial markets continues, may in the future impact, the ability of our funds’ portfolio companies to meet their respective financial obligations and continue as going concerns. This could lead to the insolvency and/or bankruptcy of these companies which would cause our funds to realize losses in respect of those investments. Any of the foregoing would adversely affect our results of operations, perhaps materially, and could harm our reputation.

Our funds may experience similar credit and liquidity risk. Failure of our funds to meet their financial obligations could result in our funds being required to repay indebtedness or other financial obligations immediately in whole or in part, together with any attendant costs, and our funds could be forced to sell some of their assets to fund such costs. Our funds could lose both invested capital in, and anticipated profits from, the affected investment.

Borrowers of loans and other credit instruments made by our funds may be unable to make their loan payments on a timely basis and meet their loan covenants, and tenants leasing real estate properties owned by our funds may not be able to pay rents in a timely manner or at all, resulting in a decrease in value of our funds’ credit and real estate investments and lower than

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expected returns. In addition, for variable interest instruments, lower reference rates resulting from government stimulus programs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to lower interest income for funds making loans.

The COVID-19 pandemic may adversely impact our business and operations since an extended period of remote working by our employees could strain our technology resources and introduce operational risks, including heightened cybersecurity risk. While we have taken steps to secure our networks and systems, remote working environments may be less secure and more susceptible to hacking attacks, including phishing and social engineering attempts that seek to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, our data security, data privacy, investor reporting and business continuity processes could be impacted by a third party’s inability to perform due to the COVID-19 pandemic or by failures of, or attacks on, their information systems and technology. Also, our accounting and financial reporting systems, processes, and controls could be impacted as a result of these risks. In addition, COVID-19 presents a significant threat to our employees’ well-being and morale, and we may experience potential loss of productivity. If our senior management or other key personnel become ill or are otherwise unable to perform their duties for an extended period of time, we may experience a loss of productivity or a delay in the implementation of certain strategic plans. In addition to any potential impact of such extended illness on our operations, we may be exposed to the risk of litigation by our employees against us for, among other things, failure to take adequate steps to protect their well-being, particularly in the event they become sick after a return to the office. Further, local COVID-19-related laws can be subject to rapid change depending on public health developments, which can lead to confusion and make compliance with laws uncertain and subject us, our funds or our funds’ portfolio companies to increased risk of litigation for non-compliance.

Additionally, due to stay-at-home orders, travel restrictions, and other COVID-19 related responses, many of our staff cannot travel for in-person meetings and/or have been working remotely outside of their usual work location. This could create taxable presence or residency risks for our corporate entities, professionals, funds and portfolio companies, which risks could lead to increased tax liability and additional compliance complexities.

Regulatory oversight and enforcement may become more rigorous for the financial services industry and other regulated industries as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financial markets, especially in the wake of the array of governmental financial assistance programs provided by state and national governments around the world. In addition, new laws or regulations that are passed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic could adversely impact investment management firms. This may result in a more complex regulatory, tax and political environment, which could subject us to increased compliance costs and administrative burdens.

Difficult market and political conditions may adversely affect our businesses in many ways, including by reducing the value or hampering the performance of the investments made by our funds or reducing the ability of our funds to raise or deploy capital, each of which could materially reduce our revenue, earnings and cash flow and adversely affect our financial prospects and condition.

Our businesses are materially affected by conditions in the global financial markets and economic and political conditions throughout the world, such as interest rates, the availability and cost of credit, inflation rates, economic uncertainty, changes in laws (including laws relating to our taxation, taxation of our investors and the possibility of changes to regulations applicable to alternative asset managers), trade policies, commodity prices, tariffs, currency exchange rates and controls and national and international political circumstances (including wars and other forms of conflict, terrorist acts, and security operations) and catastrophic events such as fires, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, other adverse weather and climate conditions and pandemics. These factors are outside of our control and may affect the level and volatility of securities prices and the liquidity and value of investments, and we may not be able to or may choose not to manage our exposure to these conditions.

Global financial markets have experienced heightened volatility in recent periods, including as a result of economic and political events in or affecting the world’s major economies. For example, the withdrawal of the U.K. from the EU in January 2020 and subsequent ongoing uncertainty regarding the future relationship between the U.K. and the EU following the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31, 2020, hostilities in the Middle East region, recent U.S. presidential and congressional elections and resulting uncertainties regarding actual and potential shifts in U.S. and foreign, trade, economic and other policies, and concerns over increasing inflation and deflation, as well as interest rate volatility and fluctuations in oil and gas prices resulting from global production and demand levels, have precipitated market volatility.

In addition, numerous structural dynamics and persistent market trends have exacerbated volatility generally. Concerns over significant declines in the commodities markets, sluggish economic expansion in non-U.S. economies, including continued concerns over growth prospects in China and emerging markets, growing debt loads for certain countries and uncertainty about the consequences of the U.S. and other governments withdrawing monetary stimulus measures all highlight the fact that economic conditions remain unpredictable and volatile. In recent periods, trade tensions between the U.S. and China have

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escalated. Further escalation of trade tensions between the U.S. and China, or the countries’ inability to reach a timely trade agreement, may negatively impact the rate of global growth, particularly in China, which has and continues to exhibit signs of slowing growth. Moreover, there is a risk of both sector-specific and broad-based corrections and/or downturns in the equity and credit markets. Any of the foregoing could have a significant impact on the markets in which we operate and a material adverse impact on our business prospects and financial condition.

A number of factors have had and may continue to have an adverse impact on credit markets in particular. The weakness and the uncertainty regarding the stability of the oil and gas markets resulted in a tightening of credit across multiple sectors. In addition, although the Federal Reserve has recently lowered the federal funds rate following a period of numerous increases, changes in and uncertainty surrounding interest rates may have a material effect on our business, particularly with respect to the cost and availability of financing for significant acquisition and disposition transactions. Moreover, while conditions in the U.S. economy have generally improved since the credit crisis, many other economies continue to experience weakness, tighter credit conditions and a decreased availability of foreign capital. Since credit represents a significant portion of our business and ongoing strategy, any of the foregoing could have a material adverse impact on our business prospects and financial condition.

These and other conditions in the global financial markets and the global economy may result in adverse consequences for us and many of our funds, each of which could adversely affect the business of such funds, restrict such funds’ investment activities, impede such funds’ ability to effectively achieve their investment objectives and result in lower returns than we anticipated at the time certain of our investments were made. More specifically, these economic conditions could adversely affect our operating results by causing:

•decreases in the market value of securities, debt instruments or investments held by some of our funds;

•illiquidity in the market, which could adversely affect transaction volumes and the pace of realization of our funds’ investments or otherwise restrict the ability of our funds to realize value from their investments, thereby adversely affecting our ability to generate performance or other income;

•our assets under management to decrease, thereby lowering a portion of our management fees payable by our funds to the extent they are based on market values; and

•increases in costs or reduced availability of financial instruments that finance our funds.

During periods of difficult market conditions or slowdowns (which may be across one or more industries, sectors or geographies), companies in which we invest may experience decreased revenues, financial losses, credit rating downgrades, difficulty in obtaining access to financing and increased funding costs. During such periods, these companies may also have difficulty in expanding their businesses and operations and be unable to meet their debt service obligations or other expenses as they become due, including expenses payable to us. Negative financial results in our funds’ portfolio companies may reduce the value of our portfolio companies, the net asset value of our funds and the investment returns for our funds, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and cash flow. In addition, such conditions would increase the risk of default with respect to credit-oriented or debt investments. Our funds may be adversely affected by reduced opportunities to exit and realize value from their investments, by lower than expected returns on investments made prior to the deterioration of the credit markets and by our inability to find suitable investments for the funds to effectively deploy capital, which could adversely affect our ability to raise new funds and thus adversely impact our prospects for future growth.

Political and regulatory conditions, including the effects of negative publicity surrounding the financial industry in general and proposed legislation, could adversely affect our businesses.

    As a result of market disruptions and highly publicized financial scandals in recent years, regulators and investors have exhibited concerns over the integrity of the U.S. financial markets. The businesses that we operate both in and outside the United States will be subject to new or additional regulations. We may be adversely affected as a result of new or revised legislation or regulations imposed by the SEC, the CFTC, FINRA or other U.S. or non-U.S. governmental regulatory authorities or self-regulatory organizations that supervise the financial markets. We may also be adversely affected by changes in the interpretation or enforcement of existing laws and rules by these governmental authorities and self-regulatory organizations.

    Throughout 2020 and continuing into 2021 there has been an increasing level of public discourse, debate and media coverage regarding the appropriate extent of regulation and oversight of the financial industry, including investment firms, as well as the tax treatment of certain investments and income generated from such investments. For further discussion regarding recent legislation affecting the taxation of carried interest, see “-We depend on the members of the Executive Management Committee, senior professionals and other key personnel, and our ability to retain them and attract additional qualified personnel is critical to our success and our growth prospects.” In connection with the 2020 U.S. presidential and Congressional

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elections and the transition to a Democratic Presidential administration and majority in the U.S. Congress, uncertainty has arisen regarding prospective changes in law and regulation affecting the U.S. private equity industry, including the possibility of significant revision to the Code and U.S. financial laws, rules and regulations. The likelihood of occurrence and the effect of any such change is highly uncertain and could have an adverse impact on us, our portfolio companies and our fund investors. See “Risk Related to Regulation-Extensive regulation affects our activities, increases the cost of doing business and creates the potential for significant liabilities and penalties that could adversely affect our businesses and results of operations.”

Changes in relevant tax laws, regulations or treaties or an adverse interpretation of these items by tax authorities may adversely affect our effective tax rate, tax liability and financial condition and results.

Any substantial changes in domestic or international corporate tax policies, regulations or guidance, enforcement activities or legislative initiatives may adversely affect our business, the amount of taxes we are required to pay and our financial condition and results of operations generally. Our effective tax rate and tax liability is based on the application of current income tax laws, regulations and treaties. These laws, regulations and treaties are complex, and the manner which they apply to us and our funds is sometimes open to interpretation. Significant management judgment is required in determining our provision for income taxes, our deferred tax assets and liabilities and any valuation allowance recorded against our net deferred tax assets. Although management believes its application of current laws, regulations and treaties to be correct and sustainable upon examination by the tax authorities, the tax authorities could challenge our interpretation resulting in additional tax liability or adjustment to our income tax provision that could increase our effective tax rate. For an overview of certain relevant U.S. tax laws and relevant foreign tax laws (and FATCA), see “-Risks Related to Taxation-Applicable U.S. and foreign tax law, regulations, or treaties, and changes in such tax laws, regulations or treaties or an adverse interpretation of these items by tax authorities could adversely affect our effective tax rate, tax liability, financial condition and results, ability to raise funds from certain foreign investors, increase our compliance or withholding tax costs and conflict with our contractual obligations.”

Our business depends in large part on our ability to raise capital from investors. If we were unable to raise such capital, we would be unable to collect management fees or deploy such capital into investments, which would materially reduce our revenues and cash flow and adversely affect our financial condition.

    Our ability to raise capital from investors depends on a number of factors, including many that are outside our control. Investors may downsize their investment allocations to alternative asset managers to rebalance a disproportionate weighting of their overall investment portfolio among asset classes. If the value of an investor’s portfolio decreases as a whole, the amount available to allocate to alternative investments could decline. Further, investors often evaluate the amount of distributions they have received from existing funds when considering commitments to new funds. Poor performance of our funds, or regulatory or tax constraints, could also make it more difficult for us to raise new capital. Our investors and potential investors continually assess our funds’ performance independently and relative to market benchmarks and our competitors, which affects our ability to raise capital for existing and future funds. If economic and market conditions deteriorate or continue to be volatile, investors may delay making new commitments to investment funds and/or we may be unable to raise sufficient amounts of capital to support the investment activities of future funds. We may not be able to find suitable investments for the funds to effectively deploy capital, which could adversely affect our ability to raise new funds and our prospects for future growth. This may be particularly impactful for our larger flagship funds. In addition, certain investors have implemented or may implement restrictions against investing in certain types of asset classes, such as fossil fuels, which would affect our ability to raise new funds focused on those asset classes. If we were unable to successfully raise capital, our revenue and cash flow would be reduced, and our financial condition would be adversely affected. Furthermore, while our senior professionals have committed substantial capital to our funds, commitments from new investors may depend on the commitments made by our senior professionals to new funds and there can be no assurance that there will be further commitments to our funds by these individuals, and any future investments by them in our funds or other alternative investment categories will likely depend on the performance of our funds, the performance of their overall investment portfolios and other investment opportunities available to them.

We depend on the members of the Executive Management Committee, senior professionals and other key personnel, and our ability to retain them and attract additional qualified personnel is critical to our success and our growth prospects.

    We depend on the diligence, skill, judgment, business contacts and personal reputations of the members of the Executive Management Committee, senior professionals and other key personnel. Our future success will depend upon our ability to retain our senior professionals and other key personnel and our ability to recruit additional qualified personnel. These individuals possess substantial experience and expertise in investing, are responsible for locating and executing our funds’ investments, have significant relationships with the institutions that are the source of many of our funds’ investment opportunities and, in certain cases, have strong relationships with our investors. Therefore, if any of our senior professionals or other key personnel join competitors or form competing companies, it could result in the loss of significant investment opportunities, limit our ability to raise capital from certain existing investors or result in the loss of certain existing investors.

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    The departure or bad acts of any of our senior professionals, or a significant number of our other investment professionals, could have a material adverse effect on our ability to achieve our investment objectives, cause certain of our investors to withdraw capital they invest with us or elect not to commit additional capital to our funds or otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business and our prospects. Turnover and associated costs of rehiring, the loss of human capital through attrition and the reduced ability to attract talent could impair our ability to implement our growth strategy and maintain our standards of excellence. Further the departure of some or all of those individuals could also trigger certain “key person” provisions in the documentation governing certain of our funds, which would permit the investors in those funds to suspend or terminate such funds’ investment periods or, in the case of certain funds, permit investors to withdraw their capital prior to expiration of the applicable lock-up date. We do not carry any “key person” insurance that would provide us with proceeds in the event of the death or disability of any of our senior professionals, and we do not have a policy that prohibits our senior professionals from traveling together. See “-Employee misconduct could harm us by impairing our ability to attract and retain investors and subjecting us to significant legal liability, regulatory scrutiny and reputational harm.”

    We anticipate that it will be necessary for us to add investment professionals both to grow our businesses and to replace those who depart. Competition for qualified, motivated, and highly-skilled executives, professionals and other key personnel in investment management firms is significant, both in the United States and internationally, and we may not succeed in recruiting additional personnel or we may fail to effectively replace current personnel who depart with qualified or effective successors. We seek to offer our personnel meaningful professional development opportunities and programs such as employee engagement, training and development opportunities and periodic review processes. We also seek to provide our personnel with competitive benefits and compensation packages. However, these efforts may not be sufficient to enable us to attract, retain and motivate qualified individuals to support our growth.

Furthermore, under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, investments must be held for more than three years, rather than the prior requirement of more than one year, for carried interest to be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as capital gain. The longer holding period requirement may result in some or all of our carried interest being treated as ordinary income, which would materially increase the amount of taxes that our employees and other key personnel would be required to pay. In January 2021, the IRS released final regulations (which generally retain the basic approach and structure of the proposed regulations published in August 2020, with certain significant revisions) implementing the carried interest provisions that were enacted as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. We are currently evaluating the potential tax impacts of such regulations, and the ultimate tax consequences of such regulations are uncertain. Although most proposals regarding the taxation of carried interest still require gain realization before applying ordinary income rates, legislation has been introduced that would assume a deemed annual return on carried interest and tax that amount annually, with a true-up once the assets are sold. In addition, following the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the tax treatment of carried interest has continued to be an area of focus for policymakers and government officials, which could result in a further regulatory action by federal or state governments. For example, certain states, including New York and California, have proposed legislation to levy additional state tax on carried interest. Tax authorities and legislators in other jurisdictions that Ares has investments or employees in could clarify, modify or challenge their treatment of carried interest. For example, the UK Office of Tax Simplification is currently reviewing the UK Capital Gains Tax Regime, and there is a risk that such review could result in a change to the taxation of carried interest with respect to our UK investment professionals. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic may increase these risks as international authorities consider methods to increase tax revenues due to increasing fiscal deficits. In addition, there have been proposed laws and regulations that sought to regulate the compensation of certain of our employees. All of these changes may materially increase the amount of taxes that our employees and other key personnel would be required to pay and as a result may impact our ability to recruit, retain and motivate employees and key personnel in the relevant jurisdictions or may require us in certain circumstances to consider alternative or modified incentive arrangements for such employees or key personnel. Our efforts to retain and attract investment professionals may also result in significant additional expenses, which could adversely affect our profitability or result in an increase in the portion of our performance income that we grant to our investment professionals. In the year ended December 31, 2020, we incurred equity compensation expenses of $123.0 million, and we expect these costs to continue to increase in the future as we increase the use of equity compensation awards to attract, retain and compensate employees.

Our failure to appropriately address conflicts of interest could damage our reputation and adversely affect our businesses.

    As we have expanded and as we continue to expand the number and scope of our businesses, we increasingly confront potential conflicts of interest relating to our and our funds’ investment activities. These conflicts are most likely to arise between or among our funds or between one or more funds across our Credit, Private Equity, Real Estate and Strategic Initiatives Groups, including any special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”) and similar investment vehicles that we sponsor. We and certain of our funds may have overlapping investment objectives, including funds that have different fee structures, and potential conflicts may arise with respect to our decisions regarding how to allocate investment opportunities. For example, a decision to receive material non-public information about a company while pursuing an investment opportunity may give rise to a potential conflict of interest if it results in our having to restrict any fund or other part of our business from

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trading in the securities of such company. Further, we may allocate an investment opportunity that is appropriate for Ares and/or multiple funds in a manner that excludes one or more funds or results in a disproportionate allocation based on factors or criteria that we determine, such as differences with respect to available capital, the size of a fund, minimum investment amounts and remaining life of a fund, differences in investment objectives or current investment strategies, such as objectives or strategies, differences in risk profile at the time an opportunity becomes available, the potential transaction and other costs of allocating an opportunity among various funds, potential conflicts of interest, including whether multiple funds have an existing investment in the security in question or the issuer of such security, the nature of the security or the transaction including the size of investment opportunity, minimum investment amounts and the source of the opportunity, current and anticipated market and general economic conditions, existing positions in an issuer/security, prior positions in an issuer/security and other considerations deemed relevant to us. We may also cause one or more funds to invest in a single portfolio company, for example, where the fund that made an initial investment no longer has capital available to invest. We may also cause different funds that we advise to purchase different classes of securities in the same portfolio company. For example, in the normal course of business our Credit Group funds acquire debt positions in companies in which our Private Equity Group funds own common equity securities. A direct conflict of interest could arise between the debt holders and the equity holders if such a company were to develop insolvency concerns. In addition, funds in one group could be restricted from selling their positions in such companies for extended periods because investment professionals in another group sit on the boards of such companies or because another part of the firm has received private information. Certain funds in different groups may invest alongside each other in the same security. ARCC and other business development companies and registered closed-end management investment companies managed by a subsidiary of us are permitted to co-invest in portfolio companies with each other and with affiliated investment funds pursuant to an SEC order (the “Co-investment Exemptive Order”). The different investment objectives or terms of such funds may result in a potential conflict of interest, including in connection with the allocation of investments between the funds made pursuant to the Co-investment Exemptive Order. In addition, conflicts of interest may exist in the valuation of our investments and regarding decisions about the allocation of specific investment opportunities among us and our funds and the allocation of fees and costs among us, our funds and their portfolio companies.

    Though we believe we have appropriate means and oversight to resolve these conflicts, our judgment on any particular allocation could be challenged. While we have developed general guidelines regarding when two or more funds can invest in different parts of the same company’s capital structure and created a process that we employ to handle such conflicts if they arise, our decision to permit the investments to occur in the first instance or our judgment on how to minimize the conflict could be challenged. If we fail to appropriately address any such conflicts, it could negatively impact our reputation and ability to raise additional funds and the willingness of counterparties to do business with us or result in potential litigation against us.

Conflicts of interest may arise in our allocation of co-investment opportunities.

    As a general matter, our allocation of co-investment opportunities is entirely within our discretion and there can be no assurance that co-investments of any particular type or amount will be allocated to any of our funds or investors. There can be no assurance that co-investments will become available and we will take into account a variety of factors and considerations we deem relevant in our sole discretion in allocating co-investment opportunities, including, without limitation, whether a potential co-investor has expressed an interest in evaluating co-investment opportunities, our assessment of a potential co-investor’s ability to invest an amount of capital that fits the needs of the co-investment and its history of participating in Ares co-investments, the size of the potential co-investor’s commitments to our funds, the length and nature of our relationship with the potential co-investor, including whether the potential co-investor has demonstrated a long-term and/or continuing commitment to the potential success of Ares or any of its funds, whether the co-investor is considered strategic to the co-investment, our assessment of a potential co-investor’s ability to commit to a co-investment opportunity within the required timeframe of the particular transaction, the economic and other terms of such co-investment (e.g., whether management fees and/or carried interest would be payable to us and the extent thereof), and such other factors and considerations that we deem relevant in our sole discretion under the circumstances.

    Certain funds in different groups may invest alongside each other in the same security. ARCC and other business development companies and registered closed-end management investment companies managed by a subsidiary of us are permitted to co-invest in portfolio companies with each other and with affiliated investment funds pursuant to the Co-investment Exemptive Order. The different investment objectives or terms of such funds may result in a potential conflict of interest, including in connection with the allocation of investments between the funds made pursuant to the Co-investment Exemptive Order. In addition, conflicts of interest may exist in the valuation of our investments and regarding decisions about the allocation of specific investment opportunities among us and our funds and the allocation of fees and costs among us, our funds and their portfolio companies. We, from time to time, incur fees, costs, and expenses on behalf of more than one fund. To the extent such fees, costs, and expenses are incurred for the account or benefit of more than one fund, each such fund will typically bear an allocable portion of any such fees, costs, and expenses in proportion to the size of its investment in the activity or entity to which such expense relates (subject to the terms of each fund’s governing documents) or in such other manner as we considers fair and equitable under the circumstances such as the relative fund size or capital available to be invested by such

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funds. Where a fund’s governing documents do not permit the payment of a particular expense, we will generally pay such fund’s allocable portion of such expense.

    Potential conflicts will arise with respect to our decisions regarding how to allocate co-investment opportunities among our funds and investors and the terms of any such co-investments. Our fund documents typically do not mandate specific allocations with respect to co-investments. The investment advisers of our funds may have an incentive to provide co-investment opportunities to certain investors in lieu of others. Co-investment arrangements may be structured through one or more of our investment vehicles, and in such circumstances, co-investors will generally bear the costs and expenses thereof (which may lead to conflicts of interest regarding the allocation of costs and expenses between such co-investors and investors in our other investment funds). The terms of any such existing and future co-investment vehicles may differ materially, and in some instances may be more favorable to us, than the terms of certain of our funds or prior co-investment vehicles, and such different terms may create an incentive for us to allocate a greater or lesser percentage of an investment opportunity to such funds or such co-investment vehicles, as the case may be. Such incentives will from time to time give rise to conflicts of interest. There can be no assurance that any conflicts of interest will be resolved in favor of any particular investment funds or investors (including any applicable co-investors) and there is a risk that such investment fund or investor (or the SEC) may challenge our treatment of such conflict, which could impose costs on our business and expose us to potential liability.

The investment management business is intensely competitive.

    The investment management business is intensely competitive, with competition based on a variety of factors, including investment performance, business relationships, quality of service provided to investors, investor liquidity and willingness to invest, fund terms (including fees), brand recognition and business reputation. We compete with a number of private equity funds, specialized funds, hedge funds, corporate buyers, traditional asset managers, real estate development companies, commercial banks, investment banks, other investment managers and other financial institutions, as well as domestic and international pension funds and sovereign wealth funds, and we expect that competition will continue to increase.

    Numerous factors increase our competitive risks, including, but not limited to:

•a number of our competitors in some of our businesses have greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources and more personnel than we do;

•some of our funds may not perform as well as competitors’ funds or other available investment products;

•several of our competitors have raised significant amounts of capital, and many of them have similar investment objectives to ours, which may create additional competition for investment opportunities;

•some of our competitors may have a lower cost of capital and access to funding sources that are not available to us, which may create competitive disadvantages for us with respect to our funds, particularly our funds that directly use leverage or rely on debt financing of their portfolio investments to generate superior investment returns;

•some of our competitors may have higher risk tolerances, different risk assessments or lower return thresholds than us, which could allow them to consider a wider variety of investments and to bid more aggressively than us for investments that we want to make;

•some of our competitors may be subject to less regulation and, accordingly, may have more flexibility to undertake and execute certain businesses or investments than we do and/or bear less compliance expense than we do;

•some of our competitors may not have the same types of conflicts of interest as we do;

•some of our competitors may have more flexibility than us in raising certain types of funds under the investment management contracts they have negotiated with their investors;

•some of our competitors may have better expertise or be regarded by investors as having better expertise in a specific asset class or geographic region than we do;

•our competitors that are corporate buyers may be able to achieve synergistic cost savings in respect of an investment, which may provide them with a competitive advantage in bidding for an investment;

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•our competitors have instituted or may institute low cost high speed financial applications and services based on artificial intelligence and new competitors may enter the asset management space using new investment platforms based on artificial intelligence; and

•other industry participants may, from time to time, seek to recruit our investment professionals and other employees away from us.

    Developments in financial technology, such as a distributed ledger technology (or blockchain), have the potential to disrupt the financial industry and change the way financial institutions, including investment managers, do business, and could exacerbate these competitive pressures.

    We may lose investment opportunities in the future if we do not match pricing, structures and terms offered by our competitors. Alternatively, we may experience decreased profitability, rates of return and increased risks of loss if we match pricing, structures and terms offered by our competitors.

    In addition, the attractiveness of investments in our funds relative to other investment products could decrease depending on economic conditions. This competitive pressure could adversely affect our ability to make successful investments and limit our ability to raise future funds, either of which would adversely impact our businesses, revenues, results of operations and cash flow.

    Lastly, institutional and individual investors are allocating increasing amounts of capital to alternative investment strategies. Several large institutional investors have announced a desire to consolidate their investments in a more limited number of managers. We expect that this will cause competition in our industry to intensify and could lead to a reduction in the size and duration of pricing inefficiencies that many of our funds seek to exploit.

Poor performance of our funds would cause a decline in our revenue and results of operations, may obligate us to repay performance income previously paid to us and could adversely affect our ability to raise capital for future funds.

We derive revenues primarily from:

•management fees, which are based generally on the amount of capital committed to or invested by our funds;

•performance income, which are based on the performance of our funds; and

•returns on investments of our own capital in the funds and other investment vehicles, including SPACs, that we sponsor and manage.

    When any of our funds perform poorly, either by incurring losses or underperforming benchmarks, as compared to our competitors or otherwise, our investment record suffers. As a result, our performance income may be adversely affected and, all else being equal, the value of our assets under management could decrease, which may, in turn, reduce our management fees. Moreover, we may experience losses on investments of our own capital as a result of poor investment performance. If a fund performs poorly, we will receive little or no performance income with regard to the fund and little income or possibly losses from our own principal investment in such fund. Furthermore, if, as a result of poor performance or otherwise, a fund does not achieve total investment returns that exceed a specified investment return threshold over the life of the fund or other measurement period, we may be obligated to repay the amount by which performance income that were previously distributed or paid to us exceeds amounts to which we were entitled. Poor performance of our funds and other vehicles could also make it more difficult for us to raise new capital. Investors in our closed-end funds may decline to invest in future closed-end funds we raise as a result of poor performance. Investors in our open-ended funds may redeem their investment as a result of poor performance. Poor performance of our publicly traded funds may result in stockholders selling their stock in such vehicles, thereby causing a decline in the stock price and limiting our ability to access capital. For further information on the impact of poor fund performance, see “We may not be able to maintain our current fee structure as a result of industry pressure from fund investors to reduce fees, which could have an adverse effect on our profit margins and results of operations.”

In addition, if any of our subsidiaries become the sponsor of any SPACs that are unable to successfully complete a business combination within the time limitation provided for such SPAC, we may lose the entirety of our investment. See “We have made a significant investment in a subsidiary that is the sponsor of a SPAC, and will suffer the loss of all of our investment if the SPAC does not complete business combination within two years.”

ARCC’s management fee comprises a significant portion of our management fees and a reduction in fees from ARCC could have an adverse effect on our revenues and results of operations.

    The management fees we receive from ARCC (including fees attributable to ARCC Part I Fees) comprise a significant percentage of our management fees. The investment advisory and management agreement we have with ARCC categorizes the

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fees we receive as: (a) base management fees, which are paid quarterly and generally increase or decrease based on ARCC’s total assets (excluding cash and cash equivalents), (b) fees based on ARCC’s net investment income (before ARCC Part I Fees and ARCC Part II Fees), which are paid quarterly (“ARCC Part I Fees”) and (c) fees based on ARCC’s net capital gains, which are paid annually (“ARCC Part II Fees”). We classify the ARCC Part I Fees as management fees because they are predictable and recurring in nature, not subject to contingent repayment and generally cash-settled each quarter. If ARCC’s total assets or its net investment income (before ARCC Part I Fees and ARCC Part II Fees) were to decline significantly for any reason, including, without limitation, due to fair value accounting requirements, the poor performance of its investments or the failure to successfully access or invest capital, the amount of the fees we receive from ARCC, including the base management fee and the ARCC Part I Fees, would also decline significantly, which could have an adverse effect on our revenues and results of operations. In addition, because the ARCC Part II Fees are not paid unless ARCC achieves cumulative aggregate realized capital gains (net of cumulative aggregate realized capital losses and aggregate unrealized capital depreciation), ARCC’s Part II Fees payable to us are variable and not predictable. In addition, ARCC Part I Fees and ARCC Part II Fees may be subject to cash payment deferral if certain return hurdles are not met, which could have an adverse effect on our cash flows. ARCC Part I Fees were deferred for the second and third quarters of 2020 and as of December 31, 2020, these fees are now payable under the terms of the investment advisory and management agreement. We may also, from time to time, waive or voluntarily defer any fees payable by ARCC in connection with strategic transactions.

    Our investment advisory and management agreement with ARCC renews for successive annual periods subject to the approval of ARCC’s board of directors or by the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of ARCC’s outstanding voting securities. In addition, as required by the Investment Company Act, both ARCC and its investment adviser have the right to terminate the agreement without penalty upon 60 days’ written notice to the other party. Termination or non-renewal of this agreement would reduce our revenues significantly and could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition.

We may not be able to maintain our current fee structure as a result of industry pressure from fund investors to reduce fees, which could have an adverse effect on our profit margins and results of operations.

    We may not be able to maintain our current fee structure as a result of industry pressure from fund investors to reduce fees. Although our investment management fees vary among and within asset classes, historically we have competed primarily on the basis of our performance and not on the level of our investment management fees relative to those of our competitors. In recent years, however, there has been a general trend toward lower fees in the investment management industry. The Institutional Limited Partners Association (“ILPA”) published a set of Private Equity Principles (the “Principles”) which called for enhanced “alignment of interests” between general partners and limited partners through modifications of some of the terms of fund arrangements, including proposed guidelines for fees and performance income structures. We promptly provided ILPA with our endorsement of the Principles, representing an indication of our general support for the efforts of ILPA. Although we have no obligation to modify any of our fees with respect to our existing funds, we may experience pressure to do so. More recently, institutional investors have been increasing pressure to reduce management and investment fees charged by external managers, whether through direct reductions, deferrals, rebates or other means. In addition, we may be asked by investors to waive or defer fees for various reasons, including during economic downturns or as a result of poor performance of our funds. We may not be successful in providing investment returns and service that will allow us to maintain our current fee structure. Fee reductions on existing or future new businesses could have an adverse effect on our profit margins and results of operations. For more information about our fees see “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

In addition, we may not be able to maintain our current fee structure if we fail to grow the assets of our funds. This would limit our ability to earn additional management fees and performance income, and ultimately affect our operating results. Our fund investors and potential fund investors continually assess our funds’ performance independently and relative to market benchmarks and our competitors, and our ability to raise capital for existing and future funds and avoid excessive redemption levels depends on our funds’ performance. Accordingly, poor fund performance may deter future investment in our funds and thereby decrease the capital invested in our funds and, ultimately, our management fee income. In the face of poor fund performance, investors could demand lower fees or fee concessions for existing or future funds which would likewise decrease our revenue.

Rapid growth of our businesses, particularly outside the United States, may be difficult to sustain and may place significant demands on our administrative, operational and financial resources.

    Our assets under management have grown significantly in the past, and we are pursuing further growth in the near future, both organic and through acquisitions. Our rapid growth has placed, and planned growth, if successful, will continue to place significant demands on our legal, accounting and operational infrastructure and has increased expenses. The complexity of these demands, and the expense required to address them, is a function not simply of the amount by which our assets under management has grown, but of the growth in the variety and complexity of, as well as the differences in strategy between, our

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different funds. In addition, we are required to continuously develop our systems and infrastructure in response to the increasing sophistication of the investment management market and legal, accounting, regulatory and tax developments.

    Our future growth will depend in part on our ability to maintain an operating platform and management system sufficient to address our growth and will require us to incur significant additional expenses and to commit additional senior management and operational resources. As a result, we face significant challenges in:

•maintaining adequate financial, regulatory (legal, tax and compliance) and business controls;

•providing current and future investors with accurate and consistent reporting;

•implementing new or updated information and financial systems and procedures; and

•training, managing and appropriately sizing our work force and other components of our businesses on a timely and cost-effective basis.

    We may not be able to manage our expanding operations effectively or be able to continue to grow, and any failure to do so could adversely affect our ability to generate revenue and control our expenses.

    In addition, pursuing investment opportunities outside the United States presents challenges not faced by U.S. investments, such as different legal and tax regimes and currency fluctuations, which require additional resources to address. To accommodate the needs of global investors and strategies we must structure investment products in a manner that addresses tax, regulatory and legislative provisions in different, and sometimes multiple, jurisdictions. Further, in conducting business in foreign jurisdictions, we are often faced with the challenge of ensuring that our activities and those of our funds and, in some cases, our funds’ portfolio companies, are consistent with U.S. or other laws with extraterritorial application, such as the USA PATRIOT Act and the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”). Moreover, actively pursuing international investment opportunities may require that we increase the size or number of our international offices. Pursuing non-U.S. fund investors means that we must comply with international laws governing the sale of interests in our funds, different investor reporting and information processes and other requirements. As a result, we are required to continuously develop our systems and infrastructure, including employing and contracting with foreign businesses and entities, in response to the increasing complexity and sophistication of the investment management market and legal, accounting and regulatory situations. This growth has required, and will continue to require, us to incur significant additional expenses and to commit additional senior management and operational resources. There can be no assurance that we will be able to manage or maintain appropriate oversight over our expanding international operations effectively or that we will be able to continue to grow this part of our businesses, and any failure to do so could adversely affect our ability to generate revenues and control our expenses. See “-Regulatory changes in jurisdictions outside the United States could adversely affect our businesses.”

We may enter into new lines of business and expand into new investment strategies, geographic markets and businesses, each of which may result in additional risks, expenses and uncertainties in our businesses.

    We intend, if market conditions warrant, to grow our businesses by increasing assets under management in existing businesses and expanding into new investment strategies, geographic markets and businesses. We may pursue growth through acquisitions of other investment management companies, acquisitions of critical business partners, acquisition of companies, or other strategic initiatives (including through our Strategic Initiatives Group), which may include entering into new lines of business. In addition, consistent with our past experience, we expect opportunities will arise to acquire other alternative or traditional asset managers.

    Attempts to expand our businesses involve a number of special risks, including some or all of the following:

•the required investment of capital and other resources;

•the diversion of management’s attention from our core businesses;

•the assumption of liabilities in any acquired business;

•the disruption of our ongoing businesses;

•entry into markets or lines of business in which we may have limited or no experience;

•increasing demands on our operational and management systems and controls;

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•our assumption of the imposition on us of known or unknown claims or liabilities in an acquisition, including claims by government agencies or authorities, current or former employees or customers, former stockholders or other third parties;

•compliance with or applicability to our business or our portfolio companies of regulations and laws, including, in particular, local regulations and laws (for example, consumer protection related laws) and customs in the numerous jurisdictions in which we operate and the impact that noncompliance or even perceived noncompliance could have on us and our portfolio companies;

•our inability to realize the anticipated operation and financial benefits from an acquisition for a number of reasons, including if we are unable to effectively integrate acquired businesses;

•potential increase in investor concentration; and

•the broadening of our geographic footprint, increasing the risks associated with conducting operations in certain foreign jurisdictions where we currently have little or no presence.

    Entry into certain lines of business may subject us to new laws and regulations with which we are not familiar, or from which we are currently exempt, and may lead to increased litigation and regulatory risk. If a new business does not generate sufficient revenues or if we are unable to efficiently manage our expanded operations, our results of operations will be adversely affected. Our strategic initiatives may include joint ventures and business combinations through subsidiary sponsored SPACs, in which case we will be subject to additional risks and uncertainties in that we may be dependent upon, and subject to liability, losses or reputational damage relating to systems, controls and personnel that are not under our control. Because we have not yet identified these potential new investment strategies, geographic markets or lines of business, we cannot identify all of the specific risks we may face and the potential adverse consequences on us and their investment that may result from any attempted expansion.

If we are unable to consummate or successfully integrate development opportunities, acquisitions or joint ventures, we may not be able to implement our growth strategy successfully.

    Our growth strategy is based, in part, on the selective development or acquisition of asset management businesses, advisory businesses or other businesses complementary to our business where we think we can add substantial value or generate substantial returns. The success of this strategy will depend on, among other things, (a) the availability of suitable opportunities, (b) the level of competition from other companies that may have greater financial resources, (c) our ability to value potential development or acquisition opportunities accurately and negotiate acceptable terms for those opportunities, (d) our ability to obtain requisite approvals and licenses from the relevant governmental authorities and to comply with applicable laws and regulations without incurring undue costs and delays, (e) our ability to identify and enter into mutually beneficial relationships with venture partners, and (f) our ability to properly manage conflicts of interest. In addition, our ability to integrate personnel at acquired businesses into our operations and culture may be impacted by the structure of acquisitions we make, such as contingent consideration and continuing governance rights retained by the sellers.

    This strategy also contemplates the use of shares of our publicly traded Class A common stock as acquisition consideration. Volatility or declines in the trading price of shares of our Class A common stock may make shares of our Class A common stock less attractive to acquisition targets. Moreover, even if we are able to identify and successfully complete an acquisition, we may encounter unexpected difficulties or incur unexpected costs associated with integrating and overseeing the operations of the new businesses. If we are not successful in implementing our growth strategy, our business, financial results and the market price for shares of our Class A common stock may be adversely affected.

Risk Related to Regulation

Extensive regulation affects our activities, increases the cost of doing business and creates the potential for significant liabilities and penalties that could adversely affect our businesses and results of operations.

    Overview of our regulatory environment and exemptions from certain laws.  Our businesses are subject to extensive regulation, including periodic examinations, by governmental agencies and self-regulatory organizations in the jurisdictions in which we operate. The SEC oversees the activities of our subsidiaries that are registered investment advisers under the Investment Advisers Act. Since the first quarter of 2014, FINRA and the SEC have overseen the activities of our wholly owned subsidiary AIS LLC as a registered broker-dealer, which also maintains licenses in many states. We are subject to audits by the Defense Security Service to determine whether we are under foreign ownership, control or influence. In addition, we regularly rely on exemptions from various requirements of the Securities Act, the Exchange Act, the Investment Company Act, the Commodity Exchange Act and the U.S. Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”). These

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exemptions are sometimes highly complex and may in certain circumstances depend on compliance by third parties who we do not control. If for any reason these exemptions were to be revoked or challenged or otherwise become unavailable to us, such action could increase our cost of doing business or subject us to regulatory action or third-party claims, which could have a material adverse effect on our businesses. For example, in 2013 the SEC amended Rule 506 of Regulation D under the Securities Act to impose “bad actor” disqualification provisions that ban an issuer from offering or selling securities pursuant to the safe harbor in Rule 506 if the issuer, or any other “covered person,” is the subject of a criminal, regulatory or court order or other “disqualifying event” under the rule which has not been waived by the SEC. The definition of a “covered person” under the rule includes an issuer’s directors, general partners, managing members and executive officers and promoters and persons compensated for soliciting investors in the offering. Accordingly, our ability to rely on Rule 506 to offer or sell securities would be impaired if we or any “covered person” is the subject of a disqualifying event under the rule and we are unable to obtain a waiver or, in certain circumstances, terminate our involvement with such “covered person”.

We expect a greater level of SEC enforcement activity under the new Administration, and while we have a robust compliance program in place, it is possible this enforcement activity will target practices at which we believe we are compliant and which were not targeted by the prior Administration.

    Federal regulation. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, a ten voting-member Financial Stability Oversight Council (the “Council”) has the authority to review the activities of certain nonbank financial firms engaged in financial activities that are designated as “systemically important,” meaning, among other things, evaluating the impact of the distress of the financial firm on the stability of the U.S. economy. If we were designated as such, it would result in increased regulation of our businesses, including the imposition of capital, leverage, liquidity and risk management standards, credit exposure reporting and concentration limits, restrictions on acquisitions and annual stress tests by the Federal Reserve.            

    A section of the Dodd-Frank Act known as the Volcker Rule generally prohibits insured banks or thrifts, any bank holding company or savings and loan holding company, any non-U.S. bank with a U.S. branch, agency or commercial lending company and any subsidiaries and affiliates of such entities, regardless of geographic location, from investing in or sponsoring “covered funds,” which include private equity funds or hedge funds and certain other proprietary activities.     

    In October of 2020, revisions to the Volcker Rule became effective providing an exemption for activities of qualifying foreign excluded funds, revising the exclusions from the definition of a “covered fund,” creating new exclusions from the definition of a covered fund and modify the definition of an ownership interest. Although we do not currently anticipate that these changes to the Volcker Rule will adversely affect our fundraising to any significant extent, there could be adverse implications on our ability to raise funds from the types of entities mentioned above if these regulations become stricter.

    Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, regulation of the U.S. derivatives market is bifurcated between the CFTC and the SEC. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFTC has jurisdiction over swaps and the SEC has jurisdiction over security-based swaps. Under CFTC rules, all swaps (other than security-based swaps) included in the definition of commodity interests. As a result, funds that utilize swaps (whether or not related to a physical commodity) may fall within the statutory definition of a commodity pool. If a fund qualifies as a commodity pool, then, absent an available exemption, the operator of such fund is required to register with the CFTC as a CPO. Registration with the CFTC renders such CPO subject to regulation, including with respect to disclosure, reporting, recordkeeping and business conduct, which could significantly increase operating costs by requiring additional resources.

    Certain classes of interest rate swaps and certain classes of credit default swaps are subject to mandatory clearing, unless an exemption applies. Many of these swaps are also subject to mandatory trading on designated contract markets or swap execution facilities. The CFTC may propose rules designating other classes of swaps for mandatory clearing. Mandatory clearing and trade execution requirements may change the cost and availability of the swaps that we use, and exposes our funds to the credit risk of the clearing house through which any cleared swap is cleared. In addition, federal bank regulatory authorities and the CFTC have adopted initial and variation margin requirements for swap dealers, security-based swap dealers and swap entities, including permissible forms of margin, custodial arrangements and documentation requirements for uncleared swaps and security-based swaps. The new rules regarding variation margin requirements are now in effect, and as a result some of our funds are required to post collateral to satisfy the variation margin requirements which has made transacting in uncleared swaps more expensive.

    Position limits imposed by various regulators, self-regulatory organizations or trading facilities on derivatives may also limit our ability to effect desired trades. Position limits represent the maximum amounts of net long or net short positions that any one person or entity may own or control in a particular financial instrument. For example, the CFTC, on January 20, 2020, voted to re-propose rules that would establish specific limits on speculative positions in 25 physical commodity futures contracts, futures and options directly or indirectly linked to such contracts as well as economically equivalent swaps. The

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CFTC could propose to expand such requirements to other types of contracts in the future. If any were enacted, the proposal could affect our ability and the ability for our funds to enter into derivatives transactions.

    In January, 2019, rules enacted by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, FDIC and the OCC came into effect and placed limitations on the exercise of certain specified insolvency-related default and cross-default rights against a counterparty that has been designated as a global systemically important banking organization (the “Stay Regulations”). These rules are intended to mitigate the risk of destabilizing close-outs of certain qualifying financial contracts (“QFCs”) (including but not limited to, derivatives, securities lending, and short-term funding transactions, such as repurchase agreements) entered into by U.S. global systemically important banking organizations. The ultimate impact of the Stay Regulations on our business will not be known unless one or more counterparties with whom we have QFCs experiences a covered insolvency event, but it could be material.

    The Dodd-Frank Act authorizes federal regulatory agencies to review and, in certain cases, prohibit compensation arrangements at financial institutions that give employees incentives to engage in conduct deemed to encourage inappropriate risk-taking by covered financial institutions. In 2016, federal bank regulatory authorities and the SEC revised and re-proposed a rule that generally (1) prohibits incentive-based payment arrangements that are determined to encourage inappropriate risks by certain financial institutions by providing excessive compensation or that could lead to material financial loss and (2) requires those financial institutions to disclose information concerning incentive-based compensation arrangements to the appropriate federal regulator. For more information on certain incentive compensation paid to our senior executive officers, see “The market price of shares of our Class A common stock may decline due to the large number of shares of Class A common stock eligible for exchange and future sale.” The Dodd-Frank Act also directs the SEC to adopt a rule that requires public companies to adopt and disclose policies requiring, in the event the company is required to issue an accounting restatement, the contingent repayment obligations of related incentive compensation from current and former executive officers. The SEC has proposed but not yet adopted such rule. To the extent the aforementioned rules are adopted, our ability to recruit and retain investment professionals and senior management executives could be limited.

    It is difficult to determine the full extent of the impact on us of new laws, regulations or initiatives that may be proposed or whether any of the proposals will become law. In addition, as a result of proposed legislation, shifting areas of focus of regulatory enforcement bodies or otherwise, regulatory compliance practices may shift such that formerly accepted industry practices become disfavored or less common. Any changes or other developments in the regulatory framework applicable to our businesses, including the changes described above and changes to formerly accepted industry practices, may impose additional costs on us, require the attention of our senior management or result in limitations on the manner in which we conduct our businesses. Moreover, as calls for additional regulation have increased, there may be a related increase in regulatory investigations of the trading and other investment activities of alternative asset management funds, including our funds. In addition, we may be adversely affected by changes in the interpretation or enforcement of existing laws and rules by these governmental authorities and self-regulatory organizations. Compliance with any new laws or regulations could make compliance more difficult and expensive, affect the manner in which we conduct our businesses and adversely affect our profitability.

    State regulation. Since 2010, states and other regulatory authorities have begun to require investment managers to register as lobbyists. We have registered as such in a number of jurisdictions, including California, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Texas and Kentucky. Other states or municipalities may consider similar legislation or adopt regulations or procedures with similar effect. These registration requirements impose significant compliance obligations on registered lobbyists and their employers, which may include annual registration fees, periodic disclosure reports and internal recordkeeping, and may also prohibit the payment of contingent fees.

Regulatory environment of our funds and portfolio companies of our funds. Each of the regulatory bodies with jurisdiction over us has regulatory powers dealing with many aspects of financial services, including the authority to grant, and in specific circumstances to cancel, permissions to carry on particular activities. A failure to comply with the obligations imposed by the Investment Advisers Act, including recordkeeping, advertising and operating requirements, disclosure obligations and prohibitions on fraudulent activities, could result in investigations, sanctions, restrictions on the activities of us or our personnel and reputational damage. We are involved regularly in trading activities that implicate a broad number of U.S. and foreign securities and tax law regimes, including laws governing trading on inside information, market manipulation and a broad number of technical trading requirements that implicate fundamental market regulation policies. Violation of these laws could result in severe restrictions on our activities and damage to our reputation.

    Compliance with existing and new regulations subjects us to significant costs. Moreover, our failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, including labor and employment laws, could result in fines, censure, suspensions of personnel or other sanctions, including revocation of the registration of our relevant subsidiaries as investment advisers or registered broker-dealers. For example, the SEC requires investment advisers registered or required to register with the SEC under the Investment

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Advisers Act that advise one or more private funds and have at least $150.0 million in private fund assets under management to periodically file reports on Form PF. We have filed, and will continue to file, quarterly reports on Form PF, which has resulted in increased administrative costs and requires a significant amount of attention and time to be spent by our personnel. Most of the regulations to which our businesses are subject are designed primarily to protect investors in our funds and portfolio companies and to ensure the integrity of the financial markets. They are not designed to protect our stockholders. Even if a sanction is imposed against us, one of our subsidiaries or our personnel by a regulator for a small monetary amount, the costs incurred in responding to such matters could be material, the adverse publicity related to the sanction could harm our reputation, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our businesses in a number of ways, making it harder for us to raise new funds and discouraging others from doing business with us.

    In the past several years, the financial services industry, and private equity and alternative asset managers in particular, has been the subject of heightened scrutiny by regulators around the globe. In particular, the SEC and its staff have focused more narrowly on issues relevant to alternative asset management firms, including by forming specialized units devoted to examining such firms and, in certain cases, bringing enforcement actions against the firms, their principals and employees. In recent periods there have been a number of enforcement actions within the industry, and it is expected that the SEC will continue to pursue enforcement actions against private fund managers. This increased enforcement activity may cause us to reevaluate certain practices and adjust our compliance control function as necessary and appropriate.

A number of our investing activities, such as our direct lending business, are also subject to regulation by various U.S. and foreign regulators. It is impossible to determine the full extent of the impact on us of existing regulation or any other new laws, regulations or initiatives that may be proposed or whether any of the proposals will become law. Any changes in the regulatory framework applicable to our businesses, including the changes described above, may impose additional costs on us, require the attention of our senior management or result in limitations on the manner in which we conduct our business. Complying with any new laws or regulations could be more difficult and expensive, affect the manner in which we conduct our businesses and adversely affect our profitability. As of December 31, 2020, our direct lending AUM represented 50.2% of our total AUM.

In May 2020, our subsidiary Ares Management LLC consented to the entry of an administrative and cease-and-desist order (the “Order”) instituted by the SEC relating to the insufficient implementation and enforcement of Ares’ written policies and procedures regarding the prevention of misuse of potentially material nonpublic information (“MNPI”) in 2016 when Ares had an employee serving on the board of directors of a public company in which one of its clients was invested. The Order did not find any misuse of MNPI by Ares or its employees; however, the Order included cease and desist provisions and a censure, and payment of a civil penalty in the amount of $1.0 million.

    While the SEC’s recent lists of examination priorities include such items as cybersecurity compliance and controls and conducting risk-based examinations of investment advisory firms, it is generally expected that the SEC’s oversight of alternative asset managers will continue to focus substantially on concerns related to fiduciary duty transparency and investor disclosure practices. Although the SEC has cited improvements in disclosures and industry practices in this area, it has also indicated that there is room for improvement in particular areas, including fees and expenses (and the allocation of such fees and expenses) and co-investment practices. To this end, many firms have received inquiries during examinations or directly from the SEC’s Division of Enforcement regarding various transparency-related topics, including the acceleration of monitoring fees, the allocation of broken-deal expenses, the disclosure of operating partner or operating executive compensation, outside business activities of firm principals and employees, group purchasing arrangements and general conflicts of interest disclosures. In addition, our Private Equity Group funds have engaged in the past and may engage from time to time advisors who often work with our investment teams during due diligence, provide board-level governance and support and advise portfolio company leadership. Advisors generally are third parties and typically retained by us pursuant to consulting agreements. In some cases, an operating executive may be retained by a portfolio company directly and in such instances the portfolio company may compensate the operating executive directly (meaning that investors in our Private Equity Group funds may indirectly bear the operating executive’s compensation). While we believe we have made appropriate and timely disclosures regarding the engagement and compensation of these advisors, the SEC staff may disagree.

Further, the SEC has highlighted valuation practices as one of its areas of focus in investment adviser examinations and has instituted enforcement actions against advisers for misleading investors about valuation. If the SEC were to investigate and find errors in our methodologies or procedures, we and/or members of our management could be subject to penalties and fines, which could harm our reputation and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

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Regulations impacting the insurance industry could adversely affect our business and our operations.

The insurance industry is subject to significant regulatory oversight, both in the U.S. and abroad. Regulatory authorities in many relevant jurisdictions have broad administrative, and in some cases discretionary, authority with respect to insurance companies and/or their investment advisors, which may include, among other things, the investments insurance companies may acquire and hold, marketing practices, affiliate transactions, reserve requirements, capital adequacy including insurance company licensing and examination, agent licensing, establishment of reserve requirements and solvency standards, premium rate regulation, admissibility of assets, policy form approval, unfair trade and claims practices, advertising, maintaining policyholder privacy, payment of dividends and distributions to shareholders, investments, review and/or approval of transactions with affiliates, reinsurance, acquisitions, mergers and other matters. Insurance regulatory authorities regularly review and update these and other requirements. Currently, there are proposals to increase the scope of regulation of insurance holding companies in the U.S., Bermuda and other jurisdictions. Changes in regulations impacting the insurance industry could adversely impact our expansion into the insurance industry, the prospects of our Bermuda insurance company subsidiary Aspida Life Re Ltd. (formerly known as F&G Reinsurance Ltd) and other investments we make in the insurance industry and limit our ability to raise capital for our funds from insurance companies, which could limit our ability to grow.

We may be the target or subject of, or may have indemnification obligations related to, litigation, enforcement investigations or regulatory scrutiny. Regulators and other authorities generally have the power to bring administrative or judicial proceedings against insurance companies, which could result in, among other things, suspension or revocation of licenses, cease and desist orders, fines, civil penalties, criminal penalties or other disciplinary action. To the extent AIS or another Ares business that offers products to insurance companies, or our subsidiary Aspida Life Re Ltd., is directly or indirectly involved in such regulatory actions, our reputation could be harmed, we may become liable for indemnification obligations and we could potentially be subject to enforcement actions, fines and penalties.

Insurance company investment portfolios are often subject to internal and regulatory requirements governing the categories and ratings of investment products they may acquire and hold. Many of the investment products we develop for, or other assets or investments we include in, insurance company portfolios will be rated and a ratings downgrade or any other negative action by a rating agency with respect to such products, assets or investments could make them less attractive and limit our ability to offer such products to, or invest or deploy capital on behalf of, insurers.

As the ultimate parent of the controlling entity of Aspida Life Re Ltd, a Bermuda Class E insurance company, we are considered its “shareholder controller” (as defined in the Bermuda Insurance Act) by the Bermuda Monetary Authority, or BMA. Aspida Life Re Ltd. is subject to regulation and supervision by the BMA, and compliance with all applicable Bermuda law and Bermuda insurance statutes and regulations, including but not limited to the Bermuda Insurance Act. Under the Bermuda Insurance Act, the BMA maintains supervision over the “controllers” of all registered insurers in Bermuda. For these purposes, a “controller” includes a shareholder controller (as defined in the Bermuda Insurance Act). The Bermuda Insurance Act imposes certain notice requirements upon any person that has become, or as a result of a disposition ceased to be, a shareholder controller, and failure to comply with such requirements is punishable by a fine or imprisonment or both. In addition, the BMA may file a notice of objection to any person or entity who has become a controller of any description where it appears that such person or entity is not, or is no longer, fit and proper to be a controller of the registered insurer, and such person or entity can be subject to fines or imprisonment or both. These laws may discourage potential acquisition proposals for us and could delay, deter or prevent an acquisition of controllers of Bermuda insurers.

Changes to the method of determining the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) or the selection of a replacement for LIBOR may affect the value of investments held by us or our funds and could affect our results of operations and financial results.

    In March 2013, the predecessor regulator to the FCA published final rules for the FCA’s regulation and supervision of the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”). In particular, the FCA’s LIBOR rules include requirements that (1) an independent LIBOR administrator monitor and survey LIBOR submissions to identify breaches of practice standards and/or potentially manipulative behavior, and (2) firms submitting data to LIBOR establish and maintain a clear conflicts of interest policy and appropriate systems and controls. These requirements may cause LIBOR to be more volatile than it has been in the past, which may adversely affect the value of investments made by our funds. On February 3, 2014, ICE Benchmark Administration Limited took responsibility for administering LIBOR, following regulatory authorization by the FCA. In July 2017, the FCA announced that it would phase out LIBOR by the end of 2021. The current nominated replacement for United States Dollar-LIBOR is the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) and the nominated replacement for GDP-LIBOR is the Sterling Overnight Interbank Average Rate (“SONIA”). In March 2020, the Federal Reserve began publishing 30-, 90- and 180-day tenor SOFR Averages and a SOFR Index and in July 2020, Bloomberg began publishing fall-backs that the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (“ISDA”) intends to implement in lieu of LIBOR with respect to swaps and derivatives. In many cases, the nominated replacements, as well as other potential replacements, are not complete or ready to

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implement and require margin adjustments. On November 30, 2020, the ICE Benchmark Administration (“IBA”), the FCA-regulated LIBOR administrator, announced its intention to (i) consult on LIBOR cessation in December 2020 and, (ii) to the extent confirmed during such consultation, to cease the one-week and two-month United States Dollar (“USD”)-LIBOR tenors by December 31, 2021, and to cease all other USD-LIBOR tenors by June 30, 2023. Further, as of December 31, 2020, there is no forward-looking term-rate SOFR available and there is no guarantee that one will become available prior to the full discontinuation of LIBOR.

It is unclear what methods of calculating a replacement benchmark will be established or adopted generally, and whether different industry bodies, such as the loan market and the derivatives market will adopt the same methodologies. Changes in the method of calculating LIBOR, or the replacement of LIBOR with an alternative rate or benchmark, may adversely affect interest rates and result in higher borrowing costs. If LIBOR ceases to exist, we, our investments funds and our portfolio companies may need to amend or restructure our existing LIBOR-based debt instruments and any related hedging arrangements that extend beyond 2021, which may be difficult, costly and time consuming and may result in adverse tax consequences. In addition, from time to time our funds invest in floating rate loans and investment securities whose interest rates are indexed to LIBOR. Uncertainty as to the nature of alternative reference rates and as to potential changes or other reforms to LIBOR, or any changes announced with respect to such reforms, may result in a sudden or prolonged increase or decrease in the reported LIBOR rates and the value of LIBOR-based loans and securities, including those of other issuers we or our funds currently own or may in the future own, and may impact the availability and cost of hedging instruments and borrowings, including potentially, an increase to our and our funds' interest expense and cost of capital. Any increased costs or reduced profits as a result of the foregoing may adversely affect our liquidity, results of operations and financial condition.

Regulatory changes in jurisdictions outside the United States could adversely affect our businesses.

Certain of our subsidiaries operate outside the United States. In Luxembourg, Ares Management Luxembourg is subject to regulation by the CSSF. In the U.K., AML and AMUKL are subject to regulation by the FCA. AELM, which is not a subsidiary, but in which we are indirectly invested and which procures certain services from AML, is also subject to regulation by the FCA. In some circumstances, AML, AMUKL, AELM and other Ares entities are or become subject to U.K. or EU laws, for instance in relation to marketing our funds to investors in the EEA.

The U.K. exited the EU on January 31, 2020. The withdrawal agreement between the U.K. and the EU provided for a transitional period to allow for the terms of the U.K.’s future relationship with the EU to be negotiated, which ended on December 31, 2020. EEA passporting rights are no longer available to the relevant U.K. entities following the end of the transitional period. Various EU laws have been “on-shored” into domestic U.K. legislation and certain transitional regimes and deficiency-correction powers exist to ease the transition.

The U.K. and the EU announced, on December 24, 2020, that they have reached agreement on a new Trade and Cooperation Agreement (the “TCA”), which addresses the future relationship between the parties. Notwithstanding the TCA, there remains considerable uncertainty as to the nature of the U.K.’s future relationship with the EU (particularly in the sphere of financial services), creating continuing uncertainty as to the full extent to which the businesses of the U.K. Regulated Entities could be adversely affected by Brexit. See “-The U.K.’s exit from the EU (“Brexit”) could adversely affect our business and our operations.”

Despite the U.K.’s departure from the EU, new and existing EU legislation is expected to continue to impact our business in the U.K. (whether because its effect is preserved in the U.K. as a matter of domestic policy or because compliance with such legislation (whether in whole or part) is a necessary condition for market access into the EEA) and other EEA member states where we have operations. The following EU measures are of particular relevance to our business.

On January 1, 2019, the new EU Securitisation Regulation (the “Securitisation Regulation”) came into effect and applies to securitizations issued after that date. Among other things, the Securitisation Regulation includes requirements in relation to transparency and risk retention and restricts AIFMs from investing in securitizations which do not comply with its provisions (“non-compliant securitizations”). The Securitisation Regulation also imposes an obligation on AIFMs to divest where they hold an interest in a non-compliant securitization. It is currently unclear if the Regulation applies to AIFMs domiciled outside the EEA but marketing one or more alternative investment funds in the EEA under a national private placement regime. This lack of clarity may hamper our ability to raise capital for some of our non-EEA funds from investors in the EEA or subject such fund raising to additional risks, including, if application of the Securitisation Regulation to non-EEA AIFMs is confirmed, that their funds that market in the EEA could be required to divest of interests in non-compliant securitizations at sub-optimal prices. The U.K. has on-shored the Securitisation Regulation and therefore similar requirements continue to apply in the U.K. notwithstanding Brexit.

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The EU Regulation on over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivative transactions, central counterparties and trade repositories (the “European Market Infrastructure Regulation” or “EMIR”) requires the mandatory clearing of certain OTC derivatives through central counterparties, creates additional risk mitigation requirements (including, in particular, margining requirements) in respect of certain OTC derivative transactions that are not cleared by a central counterparty and imposes reporting and record keeping requirements in respect of most derivative transactions. The requirements are similar to, but not the same as, those in Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act. The U.K. has on-shored EMIR and a similar but not identical set of rules therefore now apply in the U.K. notwithstanding Brexit. Certain cross-border arrangements (such as those where an Ares European fund enters into derivatives transactions with a U.K. counterparty, transacts on a U.K. trading venue or clears its derivatives through a U.K. clearing house) may be impacted. Compliance with the relevant requirements in the EU and the U.K. (as applicable) is likely to continue to increase the burdens and costs of doing business.     

A new EU Regulation on the prudential requirements of investment firms (Regulation (EU) 2019/2033) and its accompanying Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/2034) (together, “IFR/IFD”) have now been finalized and are expected to take effect on June 26, 2021. IFR/IFD will introduce a bespoke prudential regime for most MiFID investment firms to replace the one that currently applies under the fourth Capital Requirements Directive and the Capital Requirements Regulation. IFR/IFD represents a complete overhaul of “prudential” regulation in the EU. Depending on how EU member states implement IFR/IFD, certain aspects of these rules may also apply AIFMs that have been authorized to provide investment services via a MiFID “top-up” permission, such as Ares Management Luxembourg. The U.K. has confirmed that it will be implementing its own version of IFR/IFD, the Investment Firm Prudential Regulation (the “IFPR”), which was initially expected to take effect from June 2021 in line with IFR/IFD but is now expected to take effect from January 1, 2022. The IFPR will apply to Ares Management Limited and Ares European Loan Management LLP as U.K. MiFID investment firms. The extent to which the IFPR will apply to Ares Management UK Limited, as a U.K. AIFM with a MiFID “top-up” permission, is as yet unclear and further clarity on this point is expected to emerge in future FCA consultations on the new regime. The new prudential regimes are expected to result in higher regulatory capital requirements for some affected firms and new, more onerous remuneration rules, as well as re-cut and extended internal governance, disclosure, reporting, liquidity, and group “prudential” consolidation requirements (among other things), each of which could have a material impact on Ares’ European operations, although there are transitional provisions allowing firms to increase their capital during an initial period following the new regimes coming into force.

Our U.K., other European and Asian operations and our investment activities worldwide are subject to a variety of regulatory regimes that vary by country. In the EU, examples of further legislation include proposals for further changes to or reviews of the extent and interpretation of pay regulation, including under IFR/IFD (which may have an impact on the retention and recruitment of key personnel), proposals for enhanced regulation of loan origination, credit servicing and new reporting requirements in relation to securities financing transactions. In the U.K., there have been additional changes (effective since December 2019) to the rules concerning the approval of certain Ares professionals in the U.K. to work in the regulated financial services sector. Assessing the impact and implementing these new rules may create additional compliance burden and cost for us. In addition, we regularly rely on exemptions from various requirements of the regulations of certain foreign countries in conducting our asset management activities.

    Each of the regulatory bodies with jurisdiction over us has regulatory powers dealing with many aspects of financial services, including the authority to grant, and in specific circumstances to cancel, permissions to carry on particular activities. We are involved regularly in trading activities that implicate a broad number of foreign (as well as U.S.) securities law regimes, including laws governing trading on inside information and market manipulation and a broad number of technical trading requirements that implicate fundamental market regulation policies. Violation of these laws could result in severe restrictions or prohibitions on our activities and damage to our reputation, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our businesses in a number of ways, making it harder for us to raise new funds and discouraging others from doing business with us. In addition, increasing global regulatory oversight of fundraising activities, including local registration requirements in various jurisdictions and the addition of new compliance regimes, could make it more difficult for us to raise new funds or could increase the cost of raising such funds.

Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive

    The Directive took effect on July 22, 2013 and applies to (1) AIFMs established in the EEA that manage EEA or non-EEA AIFs, (2) non-EEA AIFMs that manage EEA AIFs and (3) non-EEA AIFMs that market their AIFs to professional investors within the EEA. Non-EEA AIFMs do not currently benefit from marketing passport rights and may only market AIFs to investors in some EEA jurisdictions in accordance with national private placement regimes. The U.K. implemented AIFMD while it was still a member of the EU and similar requirements therefore continue to apply in the U.K. notwithstanding Brexit.

    In 2017 the European Commission started a review of AIFMD. The European Commission published a report on the operation of AIFMD in January 2019, which identified certain areas requiring further analysis. A subsequent report on the application and scope of AIFMD was published in June 2020. Following these reports, the European Commission launched a

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public consultation relating to its review of the AIFMD in October 2020 (which closes on 29 January 2021). This is expected to result in a legislative proposal (commonly referred to as “AIFMD II”). AIFMD imposes a range of requirements on AIFMs and “leveling up” of these requirements under AIFMD II seems likely, which may increase the cost of doing business for Ares Management Luxembourg and Ares’ non-EEA AIFMs (including Ares Management UK Limited) wishing to market funds in the EEA and potentially disadvantages our funds as investors in private companies located in EEA member states when compared to non-AIF/AIFM competitors that may not be subject to such requirements. Although the reports and public consultation gives some indication of the direction of travel, the substance of any legislative proposal remains uncertain and it is unclear whether and how any such legislation will affect us or our subsidiaries. Compliance with AIFMD II has the potential to increase the cost and complexity of raising capital and consequently may slow the pace of fundraising. It is not yet clear to what extent (if any) the U.K. will seek to reflect AIFMD II in its domestic rules implementing AIFMD.

    Certain of the jurisdiction specific private placement regimes may cease to exist if the non-EEA AIFM passport becomes available. This development could have a negative impact on our ability to raise capital from EEA investors if, for example, a jurisdiction specific private placement regime ceases to operate and the non-EEA AIFM passport is not made available to United States AIFMs.

    In addition to the further changes to the AIFMD, a wider review is ongoing which may lead to further changes both under the AIFMD and potentially in other areas of EU regulation, possibly leading to increased costs and/or burdens and more limit operational flexibility within the EEA and access to EEA investors.

EU measures on the cross-border distribution of investment funds

A new package of measures which will amend the existing regimes governing the cross-border distribution of collective investment funds in the EU (the “CBD Directive” and the “CBD Regulation”) came into force on August 1, 2019. The changes are largely expected to take effect from August 2, 2021. The CBD Directive and CBD Regulation amend the existing rules on the distribution of investment funds under AIFMD and The Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities Directive (2009/65/EC). The CBD Directive amends the existing regimes for the cross-border marketing of funds and the CBD Regulation introduces new standardized requirements for cross-border fund distribution in the EU. The key changes include a new harmonized “pre-marketing” regime under AIFMD, more transparency and principles for calculating supervisory fees, new procedures for the de-notification of marketing including restrictions on pre-marketing successor funds, regulation of marketing communication as well as additional regulation in relation to reverse solicitation, with further changes expected to follow. The new regulations have the potential to hamper our ability to raise capital from EEA investors and increase the cost of doing so.

Solvency II

    Solvency II sets out stronger capital adequacy and risk management requirements for European insurers and reinsurers and, in particular, dictates how much capital such firms must hold against their liabilities and introduces a risk-based assessment of those liabilities. Solvency II imposes, among other things, substantially greater quantitative and qualitative capital requirements for insurers and reinsurers as well as other supervisory and disclosure requirements. We are not subject to Solvency II; however, many of our European insurer or reinsurer fund investors are subject to this directive, as applied under applicable domestic law. Solvency II may impact insurers’ and reinsurers’ investment decisions and their asset allocations. In addition, insurers and reinsurers will be subject to more onerous data collation and reporting requirements. As a result, Solvency II could have an adverse indirect effect on our businesses by, among other things, restricting the ability of European insurers and reinsurers to invest in our funds and imposing on us extensive disclosure and reporting obligations for those insurers and reinsurers that do invest in our funds. A broad review of Solvency II was carried out by the European Commission in 2020 (the “Solvency II 2020 review”), with input from the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (“EIOPA”). This included a related public consultation launched by the European Commission in July 2020. On December 17, 2020, EIOPA submitted its opinion on the Solvency II 2020 review to the European Commission. The Solvency II 2020 review is expected to result in amendments to various aspects of Solvency II, although the extent of such amendments is as yet unknown.

MiFID II

    The recast Markets in Financial Instruments Directive and Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (collectively referred to as “MiFID II”) came into effect on January 3, 2018. MiFID II amended the existing MiFID regime and, among other requirements, introduced new organizational and conduct of business requirements for investment firms in the EEA. MiFID II requirements apply to Ares Management Limited and Ares European Loan Management LLP as MiFID investment firms. Certain requirements of MiFID II also apply to AIFMs with a MiFID “top-up” permission, such as Ares Management UK Limited and Ares Management Luxembourg.

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MiFID II extended MiFID requirements in a number of areas such as the receipt and payment of inducements (including investment research), suitability and appropriateness assessments, conflicts of interest, record-keeping, costs and charges disclosures, best execution, product design and governance, and transaction and trade reporting. Under MiFID II, national competent authorities are also required to establish position limits in relation to the maximum size of positions which a relevant person can hold in certain commodity derivatives. The limits apply to contracts traded on trading venues and their economically equivalent OTC contracts. The position limits established, as amended from time to time, and our ability to rely on any exemption thereunder may affect the size and types of investments we may make. Failure to comply with MiFID II and its associated legislative acts could result in sanctions from national regulators, the loss of market access and a number of other adverse consequences which would have a detrimental impact on our business.

Although the U.K. has now withdrawn from the EU, its rules implementing the recast Markets in Financial Instruments Directive continue to have effect and the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation has been on-shored into U.K. law (subject to certain amendments to ensure it operates properly in a U.K.-specific context) in connection with such withdrawal.

CSPD

In March 2018, the European Commission published a proposal for a new directive governing credit servicers, credit purchasers and the recovery of collateral in connection with loans (the “Credit Servicers and Purchasers Directive” or “CSPD”). The policy aim behind CSPD is the development of a well-functioning secondary market for non-performing loans. The original European Commission legislative proposal contemplated most national law provisions transposing CSPD coming into effect from January 1, 2021. However, this original proposal is still working its way through the legislative process and it is therefore currently unclear when CSPD will be published, let alone scheduled for implementation.

As proposed by the European Commission, the CSPD would apply to, among others, “credit servicers” and “credit purchasers” and would impose a number of new requirements relating to licensing, conduct of business and provision of information.

The definition of “credit servicer” in the Commission proposal is sufficiently broad that it could be construed to include asset managers. However, the proposal limits the scope of the requirements for credit servicers and credit purchasers to the servicing or purchasing of credit agreements originally issued by a credit institution established in the EU or its subsidiaries established in the EU. This means that the servicing of loans originally advanced by credit funds (rather than, for example, an EU bank) will fall outside the scope of the CSPD as currently proposed. Asset managers are unlikely to act as principal credit purchasers. However, they may purchase in-scope credit agreements as agent on behalf of the funds or segregated managed accounts for whom they are acting and therefore may in practice be required to discharge the associated obligations on behalf of underlying clients. Compliance with these rules could involve a material cost to our business.

Hong Kong Security Law.

On June 30, 2020, the National People’s Congress of China passed a national security law (the “National Security Law”), which criminalizes certain offenses including secession, subversion of the Chinese government, terrorism and collusion with foreign entities. The National Security Law also applies to non-permanent residents. Although the extra-territorial reach of the National Security Law remains unclear, there is a risk that the application of the National Security Law to conduct outside Hong Kong by non-permanent residents of Hong Kong could limit the activities of or negatively affect the Company, our investment funds and/or portfolio companies. The National Security Law has been condemned by the United States, the United Kingdom and several EU countries. The United States and other countries may take action against China, its leaders and leaders of Hong Kong, which may include the imposition of sanctions. Escalation of tensions resulting from the National Security Law, including conflict between China and other countries, protests and other government measures, as well as other economic, social or political unrest in the future, could adversely impact the security and stability of the region and may have a material adverse effect on countries in which the Company, our investment funds and portfolio companies or any of their respective personnel or assets are located. In addition, any downturn in Hong Kong’s economy could adversely affect the financial performance of the Company and our investments, or could have a significant impact on the industries in which the Company participates, and may adversely affect the operations of the Company, its investment funds and portfolio companies, including the retention of investment and other key professionals located in Hong Kong.

Regulations governing ARCC’s operation as a business development company affect its ability to raise, and the way in which it raises, additional capital.    

    As a business development company, ARCC operates as a highly regulated business within the provisions of the Investment Company Act. Many of the regulations governing business development companies restrict, among other things, leverage incurrence, co-investments and other transactions with other entities within the Ares Operating Group. Certain of our funds may be restricted from engaging in transactions with ARCC and its subsidiaries. As a business development company

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registered under the Investment Company Act, ARCC may issue debt securities or preferred stock and borrow money from banks or other financial institutions, which we refer to collectively as “senior securities,” up to the maximum amount permitted by the Investment Company Act. Under the provisions of the Investment Company Act, ARCC is currently permitted, as a business development company, to incur indebtedness or issue senior securities only in amounts such that its asset coverage, as calculated pursuant to the Investment Company Act, equals at least 150% after giving effect to such incurrence or issuance. On March 23, 2018, the Small Business Credit Availability Act (“SBCAA”) was signed into law. The SBCAA, among other things, modified the applicable provisions of the Investment Company Act to reduce the required asset coverage ratio applicable to business development companies from 200% to 150% subject to certain approval, time and disclosure requirements (including either stockholder approval or approval of a “required majority” of its board of directors). On June 21, 2018, ARCC’s board of directors, including a “required majority” of its board of directors, approved the application of the modified asset coverage requirements set forth in Section 61(a)(2) of the Investment Company Act, as amended by the SBCAA. As a result, effective on June 21, 2019, ARCC’s asset coverage requirement applicable to senior securities was reduced from 200% to 150%.

Business development companies may issue and sell common stock at a price below net asset value per share only in limited circumstances, one of which is after obtaining stockholder approval for such issuance in accordance with the Investment Company Act. ARCC’s stockholders have, in the past, approved such issuances so that during the subsequent 12-month period, ARCC may, in one or more public or private offerings of its common stock, sell or otherwise issue shares of its common stock at a price below the then-current net asset value per share, subject to certain conditions including parameters on the amount of shares sold, approval of the sale by the directors and a requirement that the sale price be not less than approximately the market price of the shares of its common stock at specified times, less the expenses of the sale. ARCC may ask its stockholders for additional approvals from year to year. There can be no assurance that such approvals will be obtained.

The publicly traded investment vehicles that we manage are subject to regulatory complexities that limit the way in which they do business and may subject them to a higher level of regulatory scrutiny.

    The publicly traded investment vehicles that we manage operate under a complex regulatory environment. Such companies require the application of complex tax and securities regulations and may entail a higher level of regulatory scrutiny. In addition, regulations affecting our publicly traded investment vehicles generally affect their ability to take certain actions. For example, certain of our publicly traded vehicles have elected to be treated as a RIC or a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes. To maintain their status as a RIC or a REIT, such vehicles must meet, among other things, certain source of income, asset diversification and annual distribution requirements. ARCC is required to generally distribute to its stockholders at least 90% of its investment company taxable income to maintain its RIC status. ARCC and our publicly traded closed-end fund are subject to complex rules under the Investment Company Act, including rules that restrict certain of our funds from engaging in transactions with ARCC or the closed-end fund. In addition, subject to certain exceptions, ARCC is generally prohibited from issuing and selling its common stock at a price below net asset value per share and from incurring indebtedness (including for this purpose, preferred stock), if ARCC’s asset coverage, as calculated pursuant to the Investment Company Act, equals less than 150% after giving effect to such incurrence.

Failure to comply with “pay to play” regulations implemented by the SEC and certain states, and changes to the “pay to play” regulatory regimes, could adversely affect our businesses.

In recent years, the SEC and several states have initiated investigations alleging that certain private equity firms and hedge funds or agents acting on their behalf have paid money to current or former government officials or their associates in exchange for improperly soliciting contracts with state pension funds. Under SEC rules addressing “pay to play” practices, investment advisers are prohibited from providing advisory services for compensation to a government entity for two years, subject to very limited exceptions, after the investment adviser, its senior executives or its personnel involved in soliciting investments from government entities make contributions to certain candidates and officials in a position to influence the hiring of an investment adviser by such government entity. Advisers are required to implement compliance policies designed, among other matters, to track contributions by certain of the adviser’s employees and engagements of third parties that solicit government entities and to keep certain records to enable the SEC to determine compliance with the rule. In addition, there have been similar rules on a state level regarding “pay to play” practices by investment advisers. FINRA adopted its own set of “pay to play” regulations, which went into effect on August 20, 2017, that are similar to the SEC’s regulations.

    As we have a significant number of public pension plans that are investors in our funds, these rules could impose significant economic sanctions on our businesses if we or one of the other persons covered by the rules make any such contribution or payment, whether or not material or with an intent to secure an investment from a public pension plan. We may also acquire other investment managers or hire additional personnel who are not subject to the same restrictions as us, but whose activity, and the activity of their principals, prior to our ownership or employment of such person could affect our fundraising. In addition, such investigations may require the attention of senior management and may result in fines if any of

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our funds are deemed to have violated any regulations, thereby imposing additional expenses on us. Any failure on our part to comply with these rules could cause us to lose compensation for our advisory services or expose us to significant penalties and reputational damage.

Adverse incidents with respect to ESG activities could impact our or our portfolio companies’ reputation, the cost of our or their operations, or result in investors ceasing to allocate their capital to us, all of which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We, our funds and their portfolio companies face increasing public scrutiny related to ESG activities. We and they risk damage to our brand and reputation, if we or they fail to act responsibly in a number of areas, such as diversity, equity and inclusion, environmental stewardship, support for local communities, corporate governance and transparency and considering ESG factors in our investment processes. Adverse incidents with respect to ESG activities could impact the value of our brand, or the brand of our funds or their portfolio companies, the cost of our or their operations and relationships with investors, all of which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Additionally, new regulatory initiatives related to ESG that are applicable to us, our funds and their portfolio companies could adversely affect our business. In May 2018, the European Commission adopted an “action plan on financing sustainable growth.” The action plan is, among other things, designed to define and reorient investment toward sustainability. The action plan contemplates: establishing EU labels for green financial products; clarifying asset managers' and institutional investors' duties regarding sustainability in their investment decision-making processes; increasing disclosure requirements in the financial services sector around ESG and strengthening the transparency of companies on their ESG policies and introducing a ‘green supporting factor’ in the EU prudential rules for banks and insurance companies to incorporate climate risks into banks’ and insurance companies’ risk management policies.

A number of these initiatives are underway and on December 9, 2019, Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 on sustainability-related disclosures in the financial sector was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (the “Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation” or “SFDR”). SFDR introduces mandatory sustainability-related transparency requirements for MiFID investment firms providing portfolio management or investment advisory services, and AIFMs. Broadly, SFDR will require such firms to make disclosures on their website and pre-contractual disclosures including (but not limited to) information on how sustainability risks are integrated into the firm’s investment decisions (or advice). Firms that offer financial products (such as AIFs) that promote environmental or social characteristics, or which have a sustainable investment objective, will also need to comply with additional disclosure and periodic reporting requirements that are broadly designed to prevent firms from “greenwashing” (i.e., the holding out of a product as having green or sustainable characteristics where this is not, in fact, the case). There is a risk that a significant reorientation in the market following the implementation of these and further measures could be adverse to our portfolio companies if they are perceived to be less valuable as a consequence of, among other things, their carbon footprint or “greenwashing.” The majority of the requirements of SFDR will apply from March 10, 2021.

In addition, on June 22, 2020, Regulation (EU) 2020/852 on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (the “Taxonomy Regulation”). The Taxonomy Regulation sets out a framework for classifying economic activities as “environmentally sustainable” and also introduces certain mandatory disclosure and reporting requirements (which supplement those set out in SFDR) for financial products which have an environmental sustainable investment objective or which promote environmental characteristics. The Taxonomy Regulation is due to take effect in part from January 2022 and in part from January 2023.

Much of the detail surrounding these EU sustainable finance initiatives is yet to be revealed and has been further delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic so it is not possible at this stage to fully assess how our business will be affected. We, our funds and their portfolio companies are subject to the risk that similar measures might be introduced in other jurisdictions in which we or they currently have investments or plan to invest in the future. Additionally, compliance with any new laws or regulations (including recent heightened SEC scrutiny regarding advisor compliance with advisors’ own internal policies) increases our regulatory burden and could make compliance more difficult and expensive, affect the manner in which we, our funds or their portfolio companies conduct our businesses and adversely affect our profitability.

While the U.K. is not expected to implement equivalent legislative initiatives, it has signaled an intention to introduce a new legislative framework focused on implementing the recommendations of the Financial Stability Board Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (“TCFD”), in particular by introducing mandatory TCFD-aligned disclosure requirements for U.K. firms. This framework is still in development and will be subject to a phased implementation, meaning it is not expected to begin to apply to the asset management sector until 2022 at the earliest. It is unclear at this stage what impact this new regime will have on our business.

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Economic sanction laws in the United States and other jurisdictions may prohibit us and our affiliates from transacting with certain countries, individuals and companies, which could negatively impact our business, financial condition and operating results.

    Economic sanction laws in the United States and other jurisdictions may restrict or prohibit us or our affiliates from transacting with certain countries, territories, individuals and entities. In the United States, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) administers and enforces laws, executive orders and regulations establishing U.S. economic and trade sanctions, which restrict or prohibit, among other things, direct and indirect transactions with, and the provision of services to, certain non-U.S. countries, territories, individuals and entities. These types of sanctions may significantly restrict or completely prohibit lending activities in certain jurisdictions, and if we were to violate any such laws or regulations, we may face significant legal and monetary penalties, as well as reputational damage. OFAC sanctions programs change frequently, which may make it more difficult for us or our affiliates to ensure compliance. Moreover, OFAC enforcement is increasing, which may increase the risk that an issuer or we become subject of such actual or threatened enforcement.

    For instance, the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (the “ITRA”) expanded the scope of U.S. sanctions against Iran. Additionally, Section 219 of the ITRA amended the Exchange Act to require companies subject to SEC reporting obligations under Section 13 of the Exchange Act to disclose in their periodic reports specified dealings or transactions involving Iran or other individuals and entities targeted by certain Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Treasury sanctions engaged in by the reporting company or any of its affiliates during the period covered by the relevant periodic report. In some cases, the ITRA requires companies to disclose these types of transactions even if they were permissible under U.S. law. Companies that currently may be or may have been at the time considered our affiliates have from time to time publicly filed and/or provided to us the disclosures reproduced on Exhibit 99.1 of our Quarterly Reports. We do not independently verify or participate in the preparation of these disclosures. We are required to separately file and have separately filed with the SEC a notice when such activities have been disclosed in this report or in our quarterly reports, and the SEC is required to post such notice of disclosure on its website and send the report to the President and certain U.S. Congressional committees. The President thereafter is required to initiate an investigation and, within 180 days of initiating such an investigation, determine whether sanctions should be imposed. As of December 31, 2020, no sanctions have been imposed on us as a result of our disclosures of these activities. Disclosure of such activity, even if such activity is not subject to sanctions under applicable law, and any sanctions actually imposed on us or our affiliates as a result of these activities, could harm our reputation and have a negative impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations, and any failure to disclose any such activities as required could additionally result in fines or penalties.

The U.K.'s exit from the EU (“Brexit”) could adversely affect our business and our operations.

    The U.K. exited the European Union on January 31, 2020 and a transitional period of 11 months commenced on this date to allow for the U.K.’s future relationship with the EU to be negotiated. This transitional period ended on December 31, 2020. Following the end of this transitional period, so-called EEA “passporting rights” facilitating market access into the EEA by U.K. firms, and into the U.K. by EEA firms, are no longer available. Various EU laws have been “on-shored” into domestic U.K. legislation and certain transitional regimes and deficiency-correction powers exist to ease the transition.

    The U.K. and the EU announced, in December 2020, that they have reached agreement on a new Trade and Cooperation Agreement (the “TCA”), which addresses the future relationship between the parties. The TCA was approved by the U.K. Parliament on December 30, 2020. Due to the TCA only being agreed shortly before the end of the transition period, it will apply on a provisional basis in the EU until it is formally ratified by the European Parliament. The TCA covers, for example, measures to preserve tariff-free trade in goods and the ability of U.K. nationals to travel to the EU on business but defers other issues. While the TCA includes a commitment by the U.K. and the EU to keep their markets open for persons wishing to provide financial services through a permanent establishment, it does not substantively address future cooperation in the financial services sector or reciprocal market access into the EU by U.K. firms under equivalence arrangements. The European Commission has indicated that its assessment of the U.K.’s replies to its equivalence enquiries remains ongoing and, at this stage, there is no certainty as to when such assessments will be concluded or whether the U.K. will be deemed equivalent in some or all of the individual assessments.

While the TCA provides clarity in some areas, there remains considerable uncertainty as to the future position of the U.K. and the arrangements which will apply to its relationships with the EU and other countries following the end of the transitional period. Ares Management Luxembourg was established to enable Ares to continue certain regulated activities in the EU post Brexit. Applicable regulatory requirements may increase effective tax rates within Ares’ structure or on its investments, including by way of higher levels of tax being imposed on Ares Management Luxembourg and EU branches of Ares Management Luxembourg. As yet, the full impact of Brexit on our business operations in the U.K. and the EU, and on the private investment funds industry more broadly, remains uncertain. This is driven in part by the ongoing uncertainty relating to

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equivalence and the extent to which the EU will grant reciprocal market access to U.K. firms in the financial sector. It is possible that certain of our funds’ investments may need to be restructured to enable their objectives fully to be pursued (e.g. because of a loss of passporting rights for U.K. financial institutions or the failure to put equally effective arrangements in place). This may increase costs or make it more difficult for us to pursue our objectives. As a new agreement, the implications and the operation of the TCA may also be subject to change and/or develop at short notice.

    These complex issues and other by-products of Brexit, such as the tightening of credit in the U.K. commercial real estate market, may also increase the costs of having operations, conducting business and making investments in the U.K. and Europe. As a result, the performance of our funds which are focused on investing in the U.K. and to a lesser extent across Europe, such as certain funds in our Credit and Real Estate Groups may be disproportionately affected compared to those funds that invest more broadly across global geographies or are focused on different regions.

    The uncertainty surrounding the precise nature of the U.K.’s future legal relationship with the EU may continue to be a source of significant exchange rate fluctuations and/or other adverse effects on international markets. Unhedged currency fluctuations have the ability to adversely affect our funds and their underlying business investments, as well as the relative value of management fees earned and impact of operational expenses on profitability.

    Further, the development of the U.K.’s future legislative approach remains uncertain. The U.K. may elect in the future to repeal, amend or replace EU laws, which could exacerbate the uncertainty and result in divergent U.K. national laws and regulations. Changes to the regulatory regimes in the U.K. or the EU and its member states could materially affect our business prospects and opportunities and increase our costs. In addition, Brexit could potentially disrupt the tax jurisdictions in which we operate and affect the tax benefits or liabilities in these or other jurisdictions in a manner that is adverse to us and/or our funds. Post-Brexit regulations could potentially impact the ability of regulated entities operating, providing services and marketing on a cross-border basis in other EEA countries in reliance on passporting rights and without the need for a separate license or authorization which may impact our ability to raise new funds. Any of the foregoing could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We are subject to risks in using prime brokers, custodians, counterparties, administrators and other agents.

    Many of our funds depend on the services of prime brokers, custodians, counterparties, administrators and other agents to carry out certain securities and derivatives transactions and other administrative services. We are subject to risks of errors and mistakes made by these third parties, which may be attributed to us and subject us or our fund investors to reputational damage, penalties or losses. We may be unsuccessful in seeking reimbursement or indemnification from these third-party service providers.

    The terms of the contracts with these third-party service providers are often customized and complex, and many of these arrangements occur in markets or relate to products that are not subject to regulatory oversight, although the Dodd-Frank Act provides for new regulation of the derivatives market. In particular, some of our funds utilize prime brokerage arrangements with a relatively limited number of counterparties, which has the effect of concentrating the transaction volume (and related counterparty default risk) of these funds with these counterparties.

    Our funds are subject to the risk that the counterparty to one or more of these contracts defaults, either voluntarily or involuntarily, on its performance under the contract. Any such default may occur suddenly and without notice to us. Moreover, if a counterparty defaults, we may be unable to take action to cover our exposure, either because we lack contractual recourse or because market conditions make it difficult to take effective action. This inability could occur in times of market stress, which is when defaults are most likely to occur.

    In addition, our risk-management models may not accurately anticipate the impact of market stress or counterparty financial condition, and as a result, we may not have taken sufficient action to reduce our risks effectively. Default risk may arise from events or circumstances that are difficult to detect, foresee or evaluate. In addition, concerns about, or a default by, one large participant could lead to significant liquidity problems for other participants, which may in turn expose us to significant losses.

    Although we have risk-management models and processes to ensure that we are not exposed to a single counterparty for significant periods of time, given the large number and size of our funds, we often have large positions with a single counterparty. For example, most of our funds have credit lines. If the lender under one or more of those credit lines were to become insolvent, we may have difficulty replacing the credit line and one or more of our funds may face liquidity problems.

    In the event of a counterparty default, particularly a default by a major investment bank or a default by a counterparty to a significant number of our contracts, one or more of our funds may have outstanding trades that they cannot settle or are

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delayed in settling. As a result, these funds could incur material losses and the resulting market impact of a major counterparty default could harm our businesses, results of operation and financial condition.

    In the event of the insolvency of a prime broker, custodian, counterparty or any other party that is holding assets of our funds as collateral, our funds might not be able to recover equivalent assets in full as they will rank among the prime broker’s, custodian’s or counterparty’s unsecured creditors in relation to the assets held as collateral. In addition, our funds’ cash held with a prime broker, custodian or counterparty generally will not be segregated from the prime broker’s, custodian’s or counterparty’s own cash, and our funds may therefore rank as unsecured creditors in relation thereto.

    The counterparty risks that we face have increased in complexity and magnitude as a result of disruption in the financial markets in recent years. For example, the consolidation and elimination of counterparties has increased our concentration of counterparty risk and decreased the universe of potential counterparties, and our funds are generally not restricted from dealing with any particular counterparty or from concentrating any or all of their transactions with one counterparty. In addition, counterparties have generally reacted to recent market volatility by tightening their underwriting standards and increasing their margin requirements for all categories of financing, which has the result of decreasing the overall amount of leverage available and increasing the costs of borrowing.

A portion of our revenue, earnings and cash flow is variable, which may make it difficult for us to achieve steady earnings growth on a quarterly basis and may cause the price of shares of our Class A common stock to decline.

    A portion of our revenue, earnings and cash flow is variable, primarily due to the fact that the performance income that we receive from certain of our funds can vary from quarter to quarter and year to year. In addition, the investment returns of most of our funds are volatile. We may also experience fluctuations in our results from quarter to quarter and year to year due to a number of other factors, including changes in the values of our funds’ investments, changes in the amount of distributions, dividends or interest paid in respect of investments, changes in our operating expenses, the degree to which we encounter competition and general economic and market conditions. Such variability may lead to volatility in the trading price of shares of our Class A common stock and cause our results for a particular period not to be indicative of our performance in a future period. It may be difficult for us to achieve steady growth in earnings and cash flow on a quarterly basis, which could in turn lead to large adverse movements in the price of shares of our Class A common stock or increased volatility in the price of shares of our Class A common stock generally.

    The timing and amount of performance income generated by our funds is uncertain and contributes to the volatility of our results. It takes a substantial period of time to identify attractive investment opportunities, to diligence and finance an investment and then to realize the cash value or other proceeds of an investment through a sale, public offering, recapitalization or other exit. Even if an investment proves to be profitable, it may be several years before any profits can be realized in cash or other proceeds. We cannot predict when, or if, any realization of investments will occur. If we were to have a realization event in a particular quarter or year, it may have a significant impact on our results for that particular quarter or year that may not be replicated in subsequent periods. We recognize revenue on investments in our funds based on our allocable share of realized and unrealized gains (or losses) reported by such funds, and a decline in realized or unrealized gains, or an increase in realized or unrealized losses, would adversely affect our revenue, which could increase the volatility of our results.

    With respect to our funds that generate carried interest, the timing and receipt of such carried interest varies with the life cycle of our funds. During periods in which a relatively large portion of our assets under management is attributable to funds and investments in their “harvesting” period, our funds would make larger distributions than in the fund-raising or investment periods that precede harvesting. During periods in which a significant portion of our assets under management is attributable to funds that are not in their harvesting periods, we may receive substantially lower carried interest distributions. Moreover in some cases, we receive carried interest payments only upon realization of investments by the relevant fund, which contributes to the volatility of our cash flow and in other funds we are only entitled to carried interest payments after a return of all contributions and a preferred return to investors.

    With respect to our funds that pay an incentive fee, the incentive fee is generally paid annually. In many cases, we earn this incentive fee only if the net asset value of a fund has increased or, in the case of certain funds, increased beyond a particular threshold. Some of our funds also have “high water marks”. If the high water mark for a particular fund is not surpassed, we would not earn an incentive fee with respect to that fund during a particular period even if the fund had positive returns in such period as a result of losses in prior periods. If the fund were to experience losses, we would not be able to earn an incentive fee from such fund until it surpassed the previous high water mark. The incentive fees we earn are, therefore, dependent on the net asset value of our fund investments, which could lead to significant volatility in our results. Finally, the timing and amount of incentive fees generated by our closed-end funds are uncertain and will contribute to the volatility of our earnings. Incentive fees depend on our closed-end funds’ investment performance and opportunities for realizing gains, which may be limited.

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    Because a portion of our revenue, earnings and cash flow can be variable from quarter to quarter and year to year, we do not plan to provide any guidance regarding our expected quarterly and annual operating results. The lack of guidance may affect the expectations of public market analysts and could cause increased volatility in the price of shares of our Class A common stock.

Employee misconduct could harm us by impairing our ability to attract and retain investors and subjecting us to significant legal liability, regulatory scrutiny and reputational harm.

    Our ability to attract and retain investors and to pursue investment opportunities for our funds depends heavily upon the reputation of our professionals, especially our senior professionals. We are subject to a number of obligations and standards arising from our investment management business and our authority over the assets managed by our investment management business. Further, our employees are subject to various internal policies including a Code of Ethics and policies covering information systems, business continuity and information security. The violation of these obligations, standards and policies by any of our employees could adversely affect investors in our funds and us. Our businesses often require that we deal with confidential matters of great significance to companies in which our funds may invest. If our employees or former employees were to use or disclose confidential information improperly, we could suffer serious harm to our reputation, financial position and current and future business relationships. Employee misconduct could also include, among other things, binding us to transactions that exceed authorized limits or present unacceptable risks and other unauthorized activities or concealing unsuccessful investments (which, in either case, may result in unknown and unmanaged risks or losses), concealing or failing to disclose conflicts of interest with our funds or portfolio companies or otherwise charging (or seeking to charge) inappropriate expenses or inappropriate or unlawful behavior or actions directed towards other employees.

    It is not always possible to detect or deter employee misconduct, and the extensive precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in all cases. If one or more of our employees or former employees were to engage in misconduct or were to be accused of such misconduct, our businesses and our reputation could be adversely affected and a loss of investor confidence could result, which would adversely impact our ability to raise future funds. Our current and former employees and those of our portfolio companies may also become subject to allegations of sexual harassment, racial and gender discrimination or other similar misconduct, which, regardless of the ultimate outcome, may result in adverse publicity that could harm our and such portfolio company’s brand and reputation.

Fraud and other deceptive practices or other misconduct at our portfolio companies, properties or projects could similarly subject us to liability and reputational damage and also harm our businesses.

    In recent years, the U.S. Department of Justice and the SEC have devoted greater resources to enforcement of the FCPA. In addition, the U.K. significantly expanded the reach of its anti-bribery law with the creation of the U.K. Bribery Act of 2010 (the “U.K. Bribery Act”). The U.K. Bribery Act prohibits companies that conduct business in the U.K. and their employees and representatives from giving, offering or promising bribes to any person, including non-U.K. government officials, as well as requesting, agreeing to receive or accepting bribes from any person. Under the U.K. Bribery Act, companies may be held liable for failing to prevent their employees and associated persons from violating the Act. While we have developed and implemented policies and procedures designed to ensure strict compliance by us and our personnel with the FCPA and U.K. Bribery Act, such policies and procedures may not be effective in all instances to prevent violations. Any determination that we have violated the FCPA, the U.K. Bribery Act or other applicable anti-corruption laws could subject us to, among other things, civil and criminal penalties, material fines, profit disgorgement, injunctions on future conduct, securities litigation and a general loss of investor confidence, any one of which could adversely affect our business prospects, financial position or the market value of shares of our Class A common stock.

    In addition, we could be adversely affected as a result of actual or alleged misconduct by personnel of portfolio companies, properties or projects in which our funds invest. For example, failures by personnel at our portfolio companies, properties or projects to comply with anti-bribery, trade sanctions, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or Environmental Protection Agency regulations or other legal and regulatory requirements could expose us to litigation or regulatory action and otherwise adversely affect our businesses and reputation. Such misconduct could negatively affect the valuation of a fund’s investments and consequently affect our funds’ performance and negatively impact our businesses. In addition, we may face an increased risk of such misconduct to the extent our investment in non-U.S. markets, particularly emerging markets, increase. Such markets may not have established laws and regulations that are as stringent as in more developed nations, or existing laws and regulations may not be consistently enforced. For example, we may invest throughout jurisdictions that have material perceptions of corruption according to international rating standards (such as Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index) such as China and India. Due diligence on investment opportunities in these jurisdictions is frequently more complicated because consistent and uniform commercial practices in such locations may not have developed. Misconduct may be especially difficult to detect in such locations, and compliance with applicable laws may be difficult to maintain and monitor.

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Our use of leverage to finance our businesses exposes us to substantial risks.

    As of December 31, 2020, we had no borrowings outstanding under our credit facility (the “Credit Facility”) and $650.0 million aggregate principal amount of senior notes outstanding. We may choose to finance our businesses operations through further borrowings under the Credit Facility or by issuing additional debt. Our existing and future indebtedness exposes us to the typical risks associated with the use of leverage, including the same risks that are applicable to our funds that use leverage as discussed below under “-Risks Related to Our Funds-Dependence on significant leverage in investments by our funds subjects us to volatility and contractions in the debt financing markets and could adversely affect our ability to achieve attractive rates of return on those investments.” The occurrence or continuation of any of these events or trends could cause us to suffer a decline in the credit ratings assigned to our debt by rating agencies, which would cause the interest rate applicable to borrowings under the Credit Facility to increase and could result in other material adverse effects on our businesses. We depend on financial institutions extending credit to us on terms that are reasonable to us. There is no guarantee that such institutions will continue to extend credit to us or renew any existing credit agreements we may have with them, or that we will be able to refinance outstanding facilities when they mature. In addition, the incurrence of additional debt in the future could result in potential downgrades of our existing corporate credit ratings, which could limit the availability of future financing and/or increase our cost of borrowing. Furthermore, our Credit Facility and the indenture governing our senior notes contain certain covenants with which we need to comply. Non-compliance with any of the covenants without cure or waiver would constitute an event of default, and an event of default resulting from a breach of certain covenants could result, at the option of the lenders, in an acceleration of the principal and interest outstanding. In addition, if we incur additional debt, our credit rating could be adversely impacted.

    Borrowings under the Credit Facility will mature in March 2025 and our tranches of senior notes mature in October 2024 and June 2030, respectively. As these borrowings and other indebtedness mature (or are otherwise repaid prior to their scheduled maturities), we may be required to either refinance them by entering into new facilities or issuing additional debt, which could result in higher borrowing costs, or issuing equity, which would dilute existing stockholders. We could also repay these borrowings by using cash on hand, cash provided by our continuing operations or cash from the sale of our assets, which could reduce distributions to holders of our Class A common stock. We may be unable to enter into new facilities or issue debt or equity in the future on attractive terms, or at all. Borrowings under the Credit Facility are LIBOR-based obligations. As a result, an increase in short-term interest rates will increase our interest costs if such borrowings have not been hedged into fixed rates.

    The risks related to our use of leverage may be exacerbated by our funds’ use of leverage to finance investments. See “-Risks Related to Our Funds-Dependence on significant leverage in investments by our funds subjects us to volatility and contractions in the debt financing markets and could adversely affect our ability to achieve attractive rates of returns on those investments.”

We are exposed to risks associated with changes in interest rates.

General interest rate fluctuations may have a substantial negative impact on our investments and investment opportunities and, accordingly, may have a material adverse effect on our investment objective and our net investment income. Because we borrow money and may issue debt securities or preferred stock to make investments, our net investment income is dependent upon the difference between the rate at which we borrow funds or pay interest or dividends on such debt securities or preferred stock and the rate at which we invest these funds. If market rates decrease we may earn less interest income from investments made during such lower rate environment. From time to time, we may also enter into certain hedging transactions to mitigate our exposure to changes in interest rates. In the past, we have entered into certain hedging transactions, such as interest rate swap agreements, to mitigate our exposure to adverse fluctuations in interest rates, and we may do so again in the future. In addition, we may increase our floating rate investments to position the portfolio for rate increases. However, we cannot assure you that such transactions will be successful in mitigating our exposure to interest rate risk. There can be no assurance that a significant change in market interest rates will not have a material adverse effect on our net investment income.

Trading prices tend to fluctuate more for fixed-rate securities that have longer maturities. Although we have no policy governing the maturities of our investments, under current market conditions we expect that we will invest in a portfolio of debt generally having maturities of up to 10 years. Trading prices for debt that pays a fixed rate of return tend to fall as interest rates rise. This means that we are subject to greater risk (other things being equal) than a fund invested solely in shorter-term securities. A decline in the prices of the debt we own could adversely affect the trading price of our common stock. Also, an increase in interest rates available to investors could make an investment in our common stock less attractive if we are not able to increase our dividend rate, which could reduce the value of our common stock.

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Operational risks may disrupt our businesses, result in losses or limit our growth.

    We face operational risk from errors made in the execution, confirmation or settlement of transactions. We also face operational risk from transactions and key data not being properly recorded, evaluated or accounted for in our funds. In particular, our Credit Group, and to a lesser extent our Private Equity Group, are highly dependent on our ability to process and evaluate, on a daily basis, transactions across markets and geographies in a time-sensitive, efficient and accurate manner. Consequently, we rely heavily on our financial, accounting and other data processing systems. New investment products we may introduce could create a significant risk that our existing systems may not be adequate to identify or control the relevant risks in the investment strategies employed by such new investment products.

    In addition, we operate in a business that is highly dependent on information systems and technology. Our information systems and technology may not continue to be able to accommodate our growth, particularly our growth internationally, and the cost of maintaining the systems may increase from its current level. Such a failure to accommodate growth, or an increase in costs related to the information systems, could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

    Furthermore, our headquarters and a substantial portion of our personnel are located in Los Angeles. An earthquake or other disaster or a disruption in the infrastructure that supports our businesses, including a disruption involving electronic communications, our internal human resources systems or other services used by us or third parties with whom we conduct business, or directly affecting our headquarters, could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue to operate our businesses without interruption. Although we have disaster recovery programs in place, these may not be sufficient to mitigate the harm that may result from such a disaster or disruption. In addition, insurance and other safeguards might only partially reimburse us for our losses, if at all.

    Finally, we rely on third-party service providers for certain aspects of our businesses, including for certain information systems, technology and administration of our funds and compliance matters. Operational risks could increase as vendors increasingly offer mobile and cloud-based software services rather than software services that can be operated within our own data centers, as certain aspects of the security of such technologies may be complex, unpredictable or beyond our control, and any failure by mobile technology and cloud service providers to adequately safeguard their systems and prevent cyber-attacks, could disrupt our operations and result in misappropriation, corruption or loss of confidential or proprietary information. In addition, our counterparties’ information systems, technology and accounts may be the target of cyber attacks and identity theft. Any interruption or deterioration in the performance of these third parties or the service providers of our counterparties or failures of their respective information systems and technology could impair the quality of our funds’ operations and could impact our reputation, adversely affect our businesses and limit our ability to grow.

We have made a significant investment in a subsidiary that is the sponsor of a SPAC, and will suffer the loss of all of our investment if the SPAC does not complete an acquisition within two years.

In February 2021, we invested $23.0 million into a subsidiary that is the sponsor of Ares Acquisition Corp (NYSE: AAC), a blank check company. Prior to a business combination, the Sponsor (and its permitted transferees) holds 100% of the Class B ordinary shares outstanding of AAC. The Class B ordinary shares equal 20% of the outstanding Class A ordinary shares of AAC. Upon the successful completion of an acquisition the pro forma ownership of the new company will vary depending on the business combination terms. There can be no assurances that this scenario and the resulting ownership will manifest, as changes may be made depending upon business combination terms. There is no assurance that the SPAC will be successful in completing a business combination or that any business combination will be successful. The Company can lose its entire investment in the SPAC if a business combination is not completed within 24 months or if the business combination is not successful, which may adversely impact our stockholder value.

Risks Related to Our Funds

The historical returns attributable to our funds should not be considered as indicative of the future results of our funds or of our future results or of any returns expected on an investment in shares of our Class A common stock.

    The historical performance of our funds is relevant to us primarily insofar as it is indicative of performance income we have earned in the past and may earn in the future and our reputation and ability to raise new funds and therefore earn management fees on such new funds. The historical and potential returns of the funds we advise are not, however, directly linked to returns on shares of our Class A common stock. Therefore, holders of our Class A common stock should not conclude that positive performance of the funds we advise will necessarily result in positive returns on an investment in shares of our Class A common stock. An investment in shares of our Class A common stock is not an investment in any of our funds. Also, there is no assurance that projections in respect of our funds or unrealized valuations will be realized.

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    Moreover, the historical returns of our funds should not be considered indicative of the future returns of these or from any future funds we may raise, in part because:

•market conditions during previous periods may have been significantly more favorable for generating positive performance than the market conditions we may experience in the future;

•our funds’ rates of returns, which are calculated on the basis of net asset value of the funds’ investments, reflect unrealized gains, which may never be realized;

•our funds’ returns have previously benefited from investment opportunities and general market conditions that may not recur, including the availability of debt capital on attractive terms and the availability of distressed debt opportunities, and we may not be able to achieve the same returns or profitable investment opportunities or deploy capital as quickly;

•the historical returns that we present in this Annual Report on Form 10-K derive largely from the performance of our earlier funds, whereas future fund returns will depend increasingly on the performance of our newer funds or funds not yet formed, which may have little or no realized investment track record;

•our funds’ historical investments were made over a long period of time and over the course of various market and macroeconomic cycles, and the circumstances under which our current or future funds may make future investments may differ significantly from those conditions prevailing in the past;

•the attractive returns of certain of our funds have been driven by the rapid return of invested capital, which has not occurred with respect to all of our funds and we believe is less likely to occur in the future;

•in recent years, there has been increased competition for investment opportunities resulting from the increased amount of capital invested in alternative funds and high liquidity in debt markets, and the increased competition for investments may reduce our returns in the future; and

•our newly established funds may generate lower returns during the period that they take to deploy their capital.

    The future internal rate of return for any current or future fund may vary considerably from the historical internal rate of return generated by any particular fund, or for our funds as a whole. Future returns will also be affected by the risks described elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including risks of the industries and businesses in which a particular fund invests.

Valuation methodologies for certain assets can be subject to significant subjectivity, and the values of assets may never be realized.

    Many of the investments of our funds are illiquid and thus have no readily ascertainable market prices. We value these investments based on our estimate, or an independent thi