This event is archived. Final snapshot from when the story concluded. View on Dashboard
Events / Ares Management Prices Second...
Business CLO pricing

Ares Management Prices Second European Direct Lending CLO

Analysis based on 7 articles · First reported Feb 19, 2026 · Last updated Feb 23, 2026

Sentiment
50
Attention
4
Articles
7
Market Impact
Direct
Live prominence charts, article sentiment distribution, and event development timeline available on the NewsDesk Dashboard
Market Impact

The successful pricing of Ares European Direct Lending CLO II by Ares Management signals strong investor confidence in structured credit products tied to European middle-market borrowers. This event could lead to increased interest and investment in similar CLO offerings, potentially boosting the broader European direct lending market.

Financial services Asset management Investment banking
Event Summary

Ares Management announced the pricing of its second European Direct Lending Collateralized Loan Obligation (CLO), Ares European Direct Lending CLO II, at over €300 million. This CLO is diversified, comprising directly originated and actively managed loans from over 70 middle-market companies primarily in Western Europe and resilient industries. The portfolio is weighted towards senior-secured floating rate loans and will be rated by S&P Global===S&P Global Ratings and Jules Kroll. Ares Management considers Ares European Direct Lending CLO II to be among the first multi-currency middle-market CLOs in Europe. This pricing, less than a year after its inaugural European Direct Lending CLO, underscores continued investor demand for structured credit exposure to middle-market borrowers in the region. Michael Dennis and Andrea Fernández of Ares Management commented on the success and future plans.

Key Actions
100 Ares Management priced second European Direct Lending CLO
20 S&P Global===S&P Global Ratings to rate CLO Ares Management
20 Jules Kroll to rate CLO Ares Management
Entities Involved
stock
Ares Management
Ares Management successfully priced its second European Direct Lending CLO, Ares European Direct Lending CLO II, at over €300 million, demonstrating continued investor demand for its structured credit products and strengthening its position as a leading CLO manager.
Importance 100 Sentiment 60
per
Michael Dennis
Michael Dennis, Partner and Co-Head of European Credit at Ares Management, expressed satisfaction with the successful pricing of the CLO, emphasizing the firm's experience and future innovation plans.
Importance 40 Sentiment 50
per
Andrea Fernández
Andrea Fernández, Partner and Chief Operating Officer of European Direct Lending at Ares Management, highlighted the firm's ability to meet evolving investor needs and the strong demand for Ares European Direct Lending CLO II.
Importance 40 Sentiment 50
subs
S&P Global===S&P Global Ratings
S&P Global===S&P Global Ratings will be rating the Ares European Direct Lending CLO II, indicating its role as a key independent assessor of credit risk in the structured finance market.
Importance 20 Sentiment 0
priv
Jules Kroll
Jules Kroll will be rating the Ares European Direct Lending CLO II, highlighting its involvement in providing credit assessments for structured financial products.
Importance 20 Sentiment 0
loc
Western Europe
The middle-market companies whose loans comprise the Ares European Direct Lending CLO II are predominantly based in Western Europe, indicating the geographic focus of the underlying assets.
Importance 10 Sentiment 0
Relationships
Michael Dennis related ↔ Ares Management
Andrea Fernández related ↔ Ares Management
NEWSDESK
Track this event live

Set up alerts, explore entity relationships, search across thousands of events, and build custom intelligence feeds.

Open Dashboard

About NewsDesk

NewsDesk is a news intelligence platform that converts raw news articles into structured data. It tracks events, entities, and the relationships between them, with sentiment and attention metrics derived from thousands of articles. Pages on this site are daily static snapshots from the platform's live database. For real-time tracking, search, and alerts, the full dashboard is at app.newsdesk.dev.