Ares caps withdrawals again at flagship $23 billion private credit fund

June 25 (Reuters) - Ares Management again ‌capped withdrawals at ​its ​flagship private credit fund after redemption requests rose in the second quarter, according to a filing released Thursday.

Investors sought to pull 14.4% of ‌shares from the $22.6 billion Ares Strategic Income Fund (ASIF) in the second quarter, ⁠up from 11.6% in the previous quarter. The fund limited withdrawals to 5% of shares, the ‌customary threshold for such vehicles.

Wealthy ‌individuals have pulled money from non-traded private credit funds in recent months over concerns about lending standards and how software companies that borrowed heavily from direct lenders ​will navigate AI disruption.

Investors pulled a combined $12.9 billion from private credit funds for wealthy individuals in the first five months of 2026, according to investment ⁠bank Robert A. Stanger.

Most requests were concentrated among a small number of non-U.S. institutions and family offices, representing less ​than 1% of ASIF's more than 20,000 shareholders, the fund said. They accounted for nearly half of second-quarter requests.

Peer Apollo has also ​recently flagged that withdrawal requests at its $26 billion ‌private credit fund moderated from U.S. and increased from offshore.

Nearly two-thirds of repurchase requests at ASIF were submitted by investors who ⁠had tendered in the prior quarter.

"Optically, not a great update; however, the devil is in the details, and we are quite encouraged by the finer disclosure," TD Cowen analyst Bill Katz ⁠said, noting that the pattern of repurchase requests does not suggest widespread angst, while repeat requesters ​indicate redemption pressures are not building.

US PRIVATE WEALTH CHANNEL

Withdrawal requests from U.S. private wealth investors, ASIF's largest shareholder segment, represented only 2.4% of shares and declined 35% from the prior quarter.

The ‌segment also accounted for nearly half of second-quarter inflows, ASIF said.

CEO Michael Arougheti said earlier this month that U.S. high-net-worth individuals ‌were growing their alternatives exposure and not redeeming at the rate markets expected.

ASIF, launched in ⁠2022, said its Class I shares ‌had generated an annualized total ​return of 10.27% since inception, representing a 187-basis-point premium to broadly syndicated bank loans.

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by ‌Tasim Zahid)

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