Ares Management Corp - Ordinary Shares - Class A

Strong Q3 operating performance + firm fee engine / visibility - AUM ended at $691B (+16% YoY); fee-paying AUM $416B (+13% YoY). - Management fees ~$1.1B (+10% YoY), supported by European direct lending, alternative credit, perpetual vehicles, and real assets. - Fee-related earnings $524M with FRE margin 42.5% (vs 41.4% a year ago). Year-to-date: FRE margin 42.4% (~+100 bps YoY) and fee-related earnings ~$1.5B (+19% YoY). - Guidance update: for full-year 2026 FRE growth expected within 16%–20% annualized target; realized income growth expected 20%–25%+; FRE margin expansion slightly above the midpoint of 0–150 bps range (due to timing of later digital infra first close and anticipated catch-up fees in 2027).

Big quarter for deployment + fundraising momentum (record-like setup for FY) - Deployed $35B in Q3; most active net deployment areas: European direct lending, alternative credit, and infrastructure equity. - Gross capital raised $31B+ during the quarter; management highlighted broadening institutional appetite across sectors/regions and signs of strengthening near-term demand. - Expectations for Q4: management believes activity is visible for a strong Q4; historically Q4 is a seasonally strong deployment period, and U.S. direct lending expected to pickup as transactions already start closing early.

Fundraising highlights + pipeline into 2027 (opportunities) - Credit: despite no “LP closures” in large commingled flagship families, still raised ~$15B across open-ended institutional funds/SMAs/wealth—about half of total gross capital raised. - First close news: latest U.S. senior direct lending institutional funds > $8B equity commitments; combined first closes for two funds represent ~80% of target, ~60% greater than prior vintage first close; ~$15B total investable capital at these initial closes (leverage closes over time). Further closes expected through 1H 2027. - Real estate: completed Japan Logistics Development Fund JDP V at $4B hard cap (oversubscribed; ~50% larger than predecessor), including a new USD sleeve contributing >20%. - Infrastructure/digital infra: infrastructure equity raised ~$2.7B in Q3 (largest wealth-quarter fundraising for any Ares fund); digital infra fund first close expected later in Q4. - Secondaries: Global Structured Solutions fund final close $4.2B (vs $1B target); another infrastructure secondaries fund launched focusing on GP-led transactions.