Q4 2025 Ares Management Corp Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- Ares Management Corp (ARES) achieved a record year in 2025, with assets under management (AUM) surpassing $622 billion, marking a 29% increase over the previous year.
- The company declared a 20% year-over-year increase in its first-quarter 2026 common dividend, reflecting strong financial performance and confidence in future growth.
- Ares Management Corp (ARES) saw significant growth in its wealth management business, with AUM increasing by 69% year over year to over $66 billion.
- The acquisition of GCP expanded Ares Management Corp (ARES)'s real estate and digital infrastructure offerings, positioning it as a global top three owner and operator of industrial real estate.
- The company reported strong performance across its major strategies, with notable increases in management fees, fee-related earnings (FRE), and after-tax realized income per share, all growing by more than 20% year over year.
- Despite strong overall performance, Ares Management Corp (ARES) faces potential risks from AI disruption in its software portfolio, which represents about 9% of its private credit AUM.
- The company experienced some cyclicality in the wealth management channel, with potential headwinds in private credit and real estate flows.
- Ares Management Corp (ARES) noted that the private equity business is not growing at the same pace as other parts of the firm, which could impact overall growth dynamics.
- The integration of the GCP acquisition, while progressing well, presents margin headwinds that could affect financial performance in the short term.
- The company is cautious about potential global market disruptions that could impact its deployment and fundraising activities in 2026.
Welcome to Ares Management Corporationâs fourth quarter and year-end 2025 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded on Thursday, February 5, 2026.
I will now turn the call over to Greg Mason, Co-Head of Public Markets and Investor Relations for Ares Management.
Good morning, and thank you for joining us today for our fourth quarter and year-end 2025 conference call. I am joined today by Michael Arougheti, our Chief Executive Officer; and Jarrod Phillips, our Chief Financial Officer. We also have other executives with us today who will be available during Q&A.
Before we begin, I want to remind you that comments made during this call contain forward-looking statements and are subject to risks and uncertainties including those identified in our risk factors in our SEC filings. Our actual results could differ materially, and we undertake no obligation to update
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