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Key people at Ares & Company.
Ares & Company is a boutique strategy consulting firm based in Paris, France, that advises executive management teams and boards exclusively within the financial services industry. The firm provides professional advisory services covering corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, digital transformation, and risk management for retail banks, corporate banks, and global insurance companies. Operating with an estimated 50 to 100 employees across its primary Paris headquarters and a secondary London office, the business generates revenue through B2B consulting fees charged to asset managers, specialized lenders, and private equity firms. The organization is currently led by a management team of senior partners that includes recognizable industry figures such as Antoine Desjars, Olivier Dupin, and Gilles Fabre. Ares & Company was founded in 2009 by a group of former senior consultants including Antoine Desjars and Olivier Dupin.
Ares Management Corporation (NYSE: ARES) is a leading global alternative investment manager with approximately $596 billion in assets under management as of November 2025, specializing in credit, real estate, private equity, and infrastructure.[1][3][4] Its mission centers on providing flexible capital to businesses across these asset classes to generate consistent, risk-adjusted returns throughout market cycles, while creating value for stakeholders and communities through a collaborative, multi-asset platform.[1][3] The firm's investment philosophy emphasizes a disciplined, credit-based approach targeting high-quality businesses and real estate, leveraging synergies across groups for insights into trends, deal flow, and relative value assessment.[1][5] Key sectors include credit (direct lending to middle-market companies), private equity (opportunistic control investments in under-capitalized firms and infrastructure), real estate (equity and debt in North America and Europe), and infrastructure (power generation, transmission, and midstream).[3][4] While not exclusively focused on startups, Ares impacts the ecosystem through financing for middle-market acquisitions, recapitalizations, leveraged buyouts, and operational support via its Ares Value Creation Services (AVCS) framework, enabling growth and restructuring in portfolio companies.[2][3][5]
Ares Management was founded in 1997 by a team including key partners like Antony Ressler, Michael Arougheti, and others with backgrounds in credit and distressed investing, initially as a credit-focused firm spun out from Apollo Global Management.[3][5] It evolved from a credit specialist into a diversified global alternative asset manager, expanding into private equity, real estate, and infrastructure through strategic growth and acquisitions, such as SSG Capital Management for Asia-Pacific exposure.[3][5] Pivotal moments include the 2004 launch of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: ARCC), a publicly traded business development company (BDC) that became one of the largest U.S. direct lenders, and scaling to over 4,200 employees across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East by 2025.[2][3]
Ares rides the trend of alternative investments surging amid volatile public markets, where demand for private credit and flexible capital has grown due to tighter bank lending and higher interest rates.[1][2] Timing aligns with middle-market companies seeking non-bank financing for tech-enabled growth, infrastructure digitization, and real estate tech adaptations post-pandemic.[3][4] Market forces like regulatory pressures on banks and investor appetite for yield favor Ares' scale and permanent capital model, allowing patient, large-position investments.[2][7] The firm influences the ecosystem by providing one-stop financing to tech-adjacent sectors (e.g., power infrastructure for data centers), operational expertise to scale portfolio firms, and platforms like ARCC that democratize access to private markets for wealth advisors.[2][5][6]
Ares is poised for continued expansion, potentially surpassing $700 billion AUM by leveraging infrastructure for AI/data center booms and private credit amid sustained high rates.[3][4] Trends like secondary markets growth, Asia-Pacific push via SSG, and hybrid credit-equity plays will shape its path, enhancing resilience in downturns.[1][3][5] Its influence may evolve toward deeper tech infrastructure and sustainable real assets, solidifying its role as a steward of flexible capital in a fragmented alternative investment landscape—echoing its foundational promise of collaborative, cycle-tested value creation.[1]
Key people at Ares & Company.
