Ares Management

“Regulatory and Compliance Matters Our businesses, as well as the financial services industry, generally are subject to extensive regulation, including periodic examinations and potential investigations by governmental agencies and self-regulatory organizations or exchanges in the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions in which we operate relating to, among other things, the management of our funds, antitrust laws, foreign investment review regimes, anti-money laundering laws, anti-bribery laws relating to foreign officials, tax laws and data privacy laws with respect to client and other information.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, the SEC requires investment advisers registered or required to register with the SEC under the Investment Advisers Act that advise one or more private funds and have at least $150 million in private fund assets under management to periodically file reports on Form PF. We have filed, and will continue to file, quarterly reports on Form PF, which has resulted in increased administrative costs and a significant amount of attention and time to be spent by our personnel.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In the EU, an amending directive to AIFMD, commonly referred to as “AIFMD II”, was published on March 26, 2024 and will become effective April 16, 2026, subject to the grandfathering period for certain of the loan origination provisions and certain Annex IV disclosure requirements which will become effective a year later (see “—Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive” for further detail).”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Table of Contents In addition, the EU Digital Operational Resilience Act (“DORA”), which became applicable in January 2025, imposes requirements on a wide range of EU financial entities (including certain alternative investment fund managers) relating to information and communications technology (“ICT”) risk management, incident reporting, operational resilience testing and oversight of third-party ICT service providers. Compliance with DORA may require enhancements to our technology, risk management and vendor oversight practices.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, pursuing investment opportunities outside the U.S. presents challenges not faced by U.S. investments, such as different legal and tax regimes and currency fluctuations, which require additional resources to address. To accommodate the needs of global investors and strategies we must structure investment products in a manner that addresses tax, regulatory and legislative provisions in different, and sometimes multiple, jurisdictions.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Further, in conducting business in foreign jurisdictions, we are often faced with the challenge of ensuring that our activities and those of our funds and, in some cases, our funds’ portfolio companies, are consistent with U.S. or other laws with extraterritorial application, such as the USA PATRIOT Act and the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”).”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Entry into certain lines of business may subject us to new laws and regulations with which we are not familiar, or from which we are currently exempt, and may lead to increased litigation and regulatory risk.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“As a result, funds that utilize swaps (whether or not related to a physical commodity) may fall within the statutory definition of a commodity pool. If a fund qualifies as a commodity pool, then, absent an available exemption, the operator of such fund is required to register with the CFTC as a CPO. Registration with the CFTC renders such CPO subject to regulation, including with respect to disclosure, reporting, recordkeeping and business conduct, which could significantly increase operating costs by requiring additional resources.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Certain classes of interest rate swaps and certain classes of credit default swaps are subject to mandatory clearing, unless an exemption applies. Many of these swaps are also subject to mandatory trading on designated contract markets or swap execution facilities. Mandatory clearing and trade execution requirements may change the cost and availability of the swaps that we use, and expose our funds to the credit risk of the clearing house through which any cleared swap is cleared.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, federal bank regulatory authorities and the CFTC have adopted initial and variation margin requirements for swap dealers, security-based swap dealers and swap entities, including permissible forms of margin, custodial arrangements and documentation requirements for uncleared swaps and security-based swaps. As a result of these variation margin requirements, some of our funds are required to post collateral to satisfy the variation margin requirements which has made transacting in uncleared swaps more expensive.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Position limits imposed by various regulators, self-regulatory organizations or trading facilities on derivatives may also limit our ability to effect desired trades. The Dodd-Frank Act also authorizes the SEC to establish position limits on security-based swaps, which rules could have a similar impact on our business. These rules and any additional proposals could affect our ability and the ability for our funds to enter into derivatives transactions.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The SEC has adopted Regulation Best Interest which requires broker-dealers, or natural persons who are associated persons of broker-dealers, to act in the best interest of a retail customer when making a recommendation of any securities transaction or investment strategy involving securities. Regulation Best Interest requires such broker-dealers to evaluate available alternatives, including those that may have lower expenses and/or lower investment risk than our investment funds. Regulation Best Interest may negatively impact whether certain broker-dealers and their associated persons are willing to recommend investment products, including certain of our funds, to retail customers, which may adversely impact our ability to distribute our products to certain investors.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“A number of states and regulatory authorities require investment managers to register as lobbyists. We have registered as such in a number of jurisdictions, including California, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Texas and Kentucky. Other states or municipalities may consider similar legislation or adopt regulations or procedures with 53 Table of Contents similar effect.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Compliance with existing and new or changing laws and regulations subjects us to significant costs. Moreover, our failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, including labor and employment laws, could result in fines, censure, suspensions of personnel or other sanctions, including revocation of the registration of our relevant subsidiaries as investment advisers or registered broker-dealers.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Most of the regulations to which our businesses are subject are designed primarily to protect investors in our funds and portfolio companies and to ensure the integrity of the financial markets. They are not designed to protect our stockholders.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In the past several years, the financial services industry, and private equity and alternative asset managers in particular, has been the subject of heightened scrutiny by regulators around the globe. In particular, the SEC and its staff have focused more narrowly on issues relevant to alternative asset management firms, including by forming specialized units devoted to examining such firms and, in certain cases, bringing enforcement actions against the firms, their principals and employees. In recent periods there have been a number of enforcement actions within the industry, and it is expected that the SEC will continue to pursue enforcement actions against private fund managers.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In December 2025, the European Commission renewed its adequacy decisions for the U.K., which permit the transfer of personal data from the EEA to the U.K., until December 27, 2031, subject to periodic review and potential renewal. While we currently rely on the adequacy decisions and other transfer mechanisms, the adequacy decisions could be modified, suspended or withdrawn in the future, which could require us and our portfolio companies to implement additional data transfer mechanisms and could increase costs and complexity.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Effective March 31, 2024, new legislation became operative in Bermuda (subject to certain transitional and grandfathering arrangements) which relates to changes to the calculation of the technical provisions framework of insurers and insurance groups, amendments to the computation and flexibility of the Bermuda Solvency Capital Requirement, updates to the prudential rules and reporting forms to modify capital requirements and revisions to the fees charged to life insurers regulated by the BMA. In 2024, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (“NAIC”) in the U.S. adopted changes to its Financial Analysis Handbook to provide additional guidance to regulators reviewing affiliated investment management agreements and added new regulatory considerations and guidance to assist regulators in assessing complex ownership structures.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“We may be the target or subject of, or may have indemnification obligations related to, litigation, enforcement investigations or regulatory scrutiny. Regulators and other authorities generally have the power to bring administrative or judicial proceedings against insurance companies, which could result in, among other things, suspension or revocation of licenses, cease and desist orders, fines, civil penalties, criminal penalties or other disciplinary action.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Table of Contents Securitisation Regulation The EU Securitisation Regulation (the “Securitisation Regulation”) includes requirements in relation to transparency and risk retention and restricts AIFMs from investing in securitizations which do not comply with its provisions (“non-compliant securitizations”). The Securitisation Regulation also imposes an obligation on AIFMs to divest any interest in a non-compliant securitization. It is currently unclear if the Regulation applies to non-EU AIFMs marketing one or more alternative investment funds in the EEA under a national private placement regime.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our U.K., other European and Asian operations and our investment activities worldwide are subject to a variety of regulatory regimes that vary by country. In the EU, examples of further legislation may include proposals for further changes to or reviews of the extent and interpretation of pay regulation, including under the EU Regulation on the prudential requirements of investment firms (Regulation (EU) 2019/2033) and its accompanying Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/2034) or the U.K. version, the Investment Firms Prudential Regime (which may have an impact on the retention and recruitment of key personnel), proposals for enhanced regulation of loan origination (see “—Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive”) and new reporting requirements in relation to securities financing transactions.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In the U.K., additional rule changes have affected the approval of certain Ares professionals in the U.K. to work in the regulated financial services sector. Implementation of these new rules may increase our compliance burden and costs.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Table of Contents Each of the regulatory bodies with jurisdiction over us has regulatory powers dealing with many aspects of financial services, including the authority to grant, and in specific circumstances to cancel, permissions to carry on particular activities. We are involved regularly in trading activities that implicate a broad number of foreign (as well as U.S.) securities law regimes, including laws governing trading on inside information and market manipulation and a broad number of technical trading requirements that implicate fundamental market regulation policies. Violation of these laws could result in severe restrictions or prohibitions on our activities and damage to our reputation, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our businesses in a number of ways, making it harder for us to raise new funds and discouraging others from doing business with us.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive AIFMD applies to: (i) AIFMs established in the EEA that manage EEA or non-EEA AIFs; (ii) non-EEA AIFMs that manage EEA AIFs; and (iii) non-EEA AIFMs that market their AIFs to professional investors within the EEA. Non-EEA AIFMs do not currently benefit from marketing passport rights and may only market AIFs to investors in some EEA jurisdictions in accordance with national private placement regimes.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“AIFMD II imposes a range of requirements on AIFMs which may increase the cost of doing business for AM Lux and Ares’ non-EEA AIFMs (including AMUKL) to the extent they market funds in the EEA and potentially disadvantages our funds as investors in private companies located in EEA member states compared to non-AIF/AIFM competitors that may not be subject to such requirements.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“HM Treasury and the FCA are progressing a separate reform of the U.K’s alternative investment fund manager regime and in April 2025, each respectively published a consultation on a new U.K.-specific framework and a Call for Input. The proposed changes include (i) replacing the existing “full-scope” and “sub-threshold” AIFM categories with a more flexible tiering based on an AIFM’s size, investment base and investment activities; (ii) abolishing the “small registered AIF” category (except in respect of managers of social enterprise funds and registered venture capital funds) and requiring all AIFMs to become FCA-authorized; and (iii) implementing a streamlined regime for investment trust and REIT managers.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“BDCs may issue and sell common stock at a price below net asset value per share only in limited circumstances, one of which is after obtaining stockholder approval for such issuance in accordance with the Investment Company Act. ARCC’s stockholders have, in the past, approved such issuances so that during the subsequent 12-month period, ARCC may, in one or more public or private offerings of its common stock, sell or otherwise issue shares of its common stock at a price below the then-current net asset value per share, subject to certain conditions including parameters on the amount of shares sold, approval of the sale by the directors and a requirement that the sale price be not less than approximately the market price of the shares of its common stock at specified times, less the expenses of the sale.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Certain of our vehicles have elected to be treated as a RIC or a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes. To maintain their status as a RIC or a REIT, such vehicles must meet, among other things, certain source of income, asset diversification and annual distribution requirements. Funds that have elected to be treated as RICs are required to generally distribute to their respective stockholders at least 90% of their respective investment company taxable income to maintain their RIC status.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Funds that have qualified as REITs must distribute at least 90% of their taxable income to their stockholders and meet, on a continuing basis, certain other complex requirements under the Code.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, subject to certain exceptions, our BDCs 59 Table of Contents are generally prohibited from issuing and selling their common stock at a price below net asset value per share and from incurring indebtedness (including for this purpose, preferred stock), if the BDCs’ respective asset coverage ratio, as calculated pursuant to the Investment Company Act, equals less than 150% after giving effect to such incurrence.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“As we have a significant number of public pension plans that are investors in our funds, these rules could impose significant economic sanctions on our businesses if we or one of the other persons covered by the rules make any such contribution or payment, whether or not material or with an intent to secure an investment from a public pension plan.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, such investigations may require the attention of senior management and may result in fines if any of our funds are deemed to have violated any regulations, thereby imposing additional expenses on us. Any failure on our part to comply with these rules could cause us to lose compensation for our advisory services or expose us to significant penalties and reputational damage.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The U.K. continues to review its financial services and markets regime, introducing measures via initiatives such as the Edinburgh Reforms to diverge from aspects of the EU regime. To the extent such measures result in a material divergence between the U.K. and EU regulatory regime continues, compliance with two diverging regulatory regimes may increase the operational burden and cost to our operations in these jurisdictions. These complex issues and other by-products of Brexit may increase the costs of having operations, conducting business and making investments in the U.K. and Europe.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In recent years, the U.S. Department of Justice and the SEC have devoted greater resources to enforcement of the FCPA.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“On September 1, 2025, the U.K. also introduced, under the ECCTA, a new failure to prevent fraud offence which will hold certain large companies criminally liable for fraud committed by the employees or associated persons. While we have developed and implemented policies and procedures designed to ensure strict compliance by us and our personnel with the FCPA, the U.K. Bribery Act and ECCTA, these policies and procedures may not be effective in all instances to prevent violations.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, we could be adversely affected as a result of actual or alleged misconduct by personnel of portfolio companies, properties or projects in which our funds invest, if there are failures to comply with regulations or other legal and regulatory requirements that could expose us to litigation or regulatory action and otherwise adversely affect our businesses and reputation. Such misconduct could negatively affect the valuation of a fund’s investments and consequently affect our funds’ performance and negatively impact our businesses.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Under existing regulations, FERC and public utility commissions may, in some circumstances, slow, or impose restrictions on, investments in or transfers of regulated assets. Changes to regulations, or changes to interpretations thereof, by FERC or public utility commissions may similarly make regulated investments, acquisitions or dispositions more challenging or time-consuming, and may subject previously-exempt classes of transactions to new authorization requirements. While our investments are exposed to FERC and public utility commission regulation in a manner that is consistent with other participants in the power, infrastructure and energy sector, such regulations could nonetheless result in delays in making investments, delays in exiting investments or limitations or conditions that may adversely affect the ability of our funds to execute on their investment strategy with respect to such transactions as well as limit our flexibility in structuring or financing certain transactions.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Many of our funds’ investments are in critical infrastructure sectors, such as transportation systems, energy and digital infrastructure, which are generally subject to heightened regulatory scrutiny at the time of investment and ongoing compliance requirements.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The ARPA added a new subsection to Section 162(m) of the Code to expand the disallowance for deduction of certain compensation paid by publicly held corporations to cover the next five most highly compensated employees for the taxable year, which expansion will be effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2026. The expansion of Section 162(m) is expected to generally reduce the amount of tax deductions available to us.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The IRA introduced a 15% minimum tax (“CAMT”) for corporations whose average annual adjusted financial statement income for any consecutive three-tax-year period preceding the tax year exceeds $1 billion and a 1% excise tax on the fair market value of stock repurchased by certain corporations after December 31, 2022. The IRA has not had a material impact on our income tax liability for 2025, but if we were to reach the applicable financial statement income thresholds, the CAMT rules could increase tax compliance complexity and result in additional administrative costs and income tax liabilities.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The U.K. has implemented two corporate criminal offenses: failure to prevent facilitation of U.K. tax evasion and failure to prevent facilitation of overseas tax evasion. Liability under these offences can be mitigated where the relevant business has in place reasonable prevention procedures. The scope of these offences is extremely wide and could have an impact on Ares’ global businesses.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Many of the jurisdictions in which our funds will make investments have now ratified, accepted and approved the OECD’s draft Multilateral Instrument (“MLI”) which brings into force a number of relevant changes to double tax treaties within scope. The MLI is intended to facilitate the speedy introduction by participating states of double tax treaty-related BEPS recommendations. While these changes continue to be introduced, there remains significant uncertainty as to whether and, if so, to what extent our funds or their subsidiaries may benefit from the protections afforded by such treaties and whether our funds may look to their partners in order to derive tax treaty or other benefits.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The proposals (commonly referred to as “BEPS 2.0”) are based on two “pillars”, involving the reallocation of taxing rights (“Amount A of Pillar One”), and a new global minimum corporate tax rate (“Pillar Two”). Under Amount A of Pillar One, multinational enterprises (“MNEs”) with total group revenues exceeding EUR 20 billion (or equivalent) in a given period and pre-tax profitability exceeding 10% calculated using an averaging mechanism will be subject to rules allocating 25% of profits in excess of a 10% profit margin to the jurisdictions within which they carry on business (subject to threshold rules). Certain entities are excluded, including certain investment funds and real estate investment vehicles (as respectively defined) which are the ultimate parent entity of the MNE group (and certain holding vehicles of such entities). There are also specific exclusions for MNEs carrying on specific low-risk activities, including “regulated financial services” (as defined).”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Pillar Two imposes a minimum effective tax rate of 15% on MNEs that have consolidated revenues of at least EUR 750 million in at least two out of the last four years (i.e., broadly those MNEs which are required to undertake country by country reporting). Pillar Two introduces two related tax measures (the “GloBE Rules”): the income inclusion rule (“IIR”) imposes a top up tax on a parent entity where a constituent member of the MNE group has low taxed income while the undertaxed payment rule (“UTPR”) applies as a backstop if the constituent member’s income is not taxed by an IIR. Specified classes of entities which are typically exempt from tax are outside the scope of the Pillar Two GloBE Rules, including investment funds and real estate investment vehicles (as respectively defined) which are the ultimate parent entity of the MNE group (and certain holding vehicles of such entities).”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Subject to the development and implementation of both Amount A of Pillar One and Pillar Two (including the implementation of the EU minimum tax directive by EU member states) and the details of any domestic legislation, double taxation treaty amendments and multilateral agreements which are necessary to implement them, effective tax rates could increase within the fund structure or on its investments, including by way of higher levels of tax being imposed than is currently the case, possible denial of deductions or increased withholding taxes and/or profits being allocated differently and/or penalties could be due. This could 90 Table of Contents adversely affect the returns of investors in our funds.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Congress and the current Presidential administration may consider legislation to further extend the holding period for carried interest to qualify for long-term capital gains treatment, have carried interest taxed as ordinary income rather than as capital gain, impose surcharges on carried interest or increase the capital gains tax rate. Tax authorities and legislators in other jurisdictions in which Ares has investments or employees could clarify, modify or challenge their treatment of carried interest.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, cybersecurity is a priority for regulators in the U.S. and around the world. The SEC has adopted cybersecurity disclosure rules for public companies and has adopted amendments to Regulation S-P that require, among other things, written incident response programs, customer notification in certain circumstances and enhanced oversight of service providers. In June 2025, the SEC formally withdrew certain pending proposed rules relating to cybersecurity risk management for investment advisers and certain funds; however, regulators continue to focus on cybersecurity through examinations, 93 Table of Contents enforcement activity and guidance, and future rulemaking could re-emerge.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Many jurisdictions in which we operate have laws and regulations relating to data protection, privacy, cybersecurity and information security to which we may be subject, including the CCPA, the New York SHIELD Act, the GDPR and the U.K. GDPR (collectively, “Privacy Laws”). These Privacy Laws and related regulations continue to evolve and may conflict with one another, resulting in compliance challenges.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Moreover, to the extent that these laws and regulations or the enforcement of the same become more stringent, or if new laws or regulations are enacted, our financial performance or plans for growth may be adversely impacted. In addition, compliance with applicable Privacy Laws may require adhering to stringent legal and operational requirements, which could increase compliance costs for us and require the dedication of additional time and 94 Table of Contents resources to compliance.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In May 2024, the SEC adopted cybersecurity regulations as an amendment to Regulation S-P designed to establish a federal “minimum standard” for covered institutions to adopt an incident response program to govern their response to any unauthorized access of customer information. The adopted rule requires compliance as of December 2025 and applies to us as it includes broker-dealers, investment companies and registered investment advisers.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“There may be substantial financial penalties or fines for breach of Privacy Laws (which may include insufficient security for our personal or other sensitive information). For example, the maximum penalty for breach of the GDPR is the greater of 20 million Euros and 4% of group annual worldwide turnover, and fines for each violation of the California Consumer Privacy Act are $2,500 per violation, or $7,500 per violation for intentional violations.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Regulations impacting the insurance industry could adversely affect our business and our operations, and our provision of products and services to insurance companies, including through Aspida, subjects us to a variety of risks and uncertainties. The insurance industry is subject to significant regulatory oversight, both in the U.S. and abroad. Regulatory authorities in many relevant jurisdictions have broad administrative, and in some cases discretionary, authority with respect to insurance companies and/or their investment advisers, which may include, among other things, the investments insurance companies may acquire and hold, marketing practices, affiliate transactions, reserve requirements, capital adequacy including insurance company licensing and examination, agent licensing, establishment of reserve requirements and solvency standards, premium rate regulation, admissibility of assets, policy form approval, unfair trade and claims practices, advertising, maintaining policyholder privacy, payment of dividends and distributions to shareholders, investments, review and/or approval of transactions with affiliates, reinsurance, acquisitions, mergers and other matters.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The BMA considers us to be the “shareholder controller” (as defined in the Bermuda Insurance Act) of Aspida Re, a Bermuda Class E insurance company. Aspida Re is subject to regulation and supervision by the BMA, and compliance with all applicable Bermuda law and Bermuda insurance statutes and regulations, including but not limited to the Bermuda Insurance Act.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Table of Contents 2025 Highlights Fundraising In 2025, we raised $113.2 billion in gross new capital commitments for more than 190 different investment vehicles.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our business depends in large part on our ability to raise capital from investors. If we were unable to raise such capital, we would be unable to collect management fees or deploy such capital into investments, which would materially reduce our revenues and cash flow and adversely affect our financial condition.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In the event of a counterparty default, particularly a default by a major investment bank or a default by a counterparty to a significant number of our contracts, one or more of our funds may have outstanding trades that they cannot settle or are delayed in settling. As a result, these funds could incur material losses and the resulting market impact of a major counterparty default could harm our businesses, results of operation and financial condition.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The counterparty risks that we face have increased in complexity and magnitude as a result of disruption in the financial markets in recent years. In addition, counterparties have generally reacted to recent market volatility by tightening 48 Table of Contents their underwriting standards and increasing their margin requirements for all categories of financing, which has the result of decreasing the overall amount of leverage available and increasing the costs of borrowing.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“This strategy also contemplates the use of shares of our publicly-traded Class A common stock as acquisition consideration. Volatility or declines in the trading price of shares of our Class A common stock may make shares of our Class A common stock less attractive to acquisition targets.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Table of Contents Moreover, the historical returns of our funds should not be considered indicative of the future returns of these or from any future funds we may raise. Performance metrics, such as IRR and MoIC, going forward for any current or future fund may vary considerably from the historical performance generated by any particular fund, or for our funds as a whole.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Valuation methodologies for certain assets can be subject to significant subjectivity, and our value of an asset may differ materially from the value ultimately realized. Many of our funds’ investments are illiquid and thus have no readily ascertainable market prices. We value these investments based on our estimate, or an independent third-party’s estimate, of their fair value as of the date of determination, which often involves significant subjectivity.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“We include the fair value of illiquid assets in the calculations of net asset values, returns of our funds and our assets under management. Furthermore, we recognize carried interest and incentive fees from affiliates based in part on these estimated fair values. Because these valuations are inherently uncertain, they may fluctuate greatly from period to period. Also, they may vary greatly from the prices that would be obtained if the assets were to be liquidated on the date of the valuation and often do vary greatly from the prices we eventually realize; as a result, there can be no assurance that such unrealized valuations will be fully or timely realized.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, the values of our investments in publicly-traded assets are subject to significant volatility, including due to a number of factors beyond our control. These include actual or anticipated fluctuations in the quarterly and annual results of these companies or other companies in their industries, market perceptions concerning the availability of additional securities for sale, general economic, social or political developments, changes in industry conditions or government regulations, changes in management or capital structure and significant acquisitions and dispositions.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our funds may be unable to deploy capital at a steady and consistent pace, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and future fundraising. The pace and consistency of our funds’ capital deployment has been, and may in the future continue to be, affected by a range of factors, including market conditions, regulatory developments and increased competition, which are beyond our control.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In particular, the private equity and certain real estate markets have from time to time experienced challenges with downward pressure on valuations and muted opportunities for investment and realizations. These market dynamics may impact the pace and consistency of our funds’ capital deployment.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Gains realized with borrowed funds may cause the fund’s net asset value to increase at a faster rate than would be the case without borrowings. However, if investment results fail to cover the cost of borrowings, the fund’s net asset value could also decrease faster than if there had been no borrowings.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Many of our funds invest in assets that are high risk, illiquid or subject to restrictions on transfer and we may fail to realize any profits from these activities ever or for a considerable period of time or lose some or all of the capital invested. Many of our funds invest in securities that are not publicly-traded.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The ability of many of our funds, particularly our Private Equity Group funds, to dispose of these investments is heavily dependent on the capital markets and in particular the public equity markets. For example, the ability to realize any value from an investment may depend upon the ability of the portfolio company in which such investment is held to complete an initial public offering.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, market conditions can also delay our funds’ ability to exit and realize value from their investments. For example, fluctuations in interest rates and challenging credit markets may make it difficult for potential buyers to raise sufficient capital to purchase our funds’ investments. Although the equity markets are not the only means by which we exit investments from our funds, the strength and liquidity of the U.S. and relevant global equity markets generally, and the initial public offering market specifically, affect the valuation of, and our ability to successfully exit, our equity positions in the portfolio companies of our funds in a timely manner.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Certain investments may trade on an “over-the-counter” market, which may be any location where the buyer and seller can settle a price. A significant portion of our funds’ investments are not expected to trade in any market. Due to the lack of centralized information and trading, the valuation of such instruments may carry more risk than publicly-traded common stock.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Investors in certain of our funds, including our open-ended funds and perpetual wealth vehicles may generally redeem their investments on a periodic basis subject to the expiration of a specified period of time during which capital may not be withdrawn. As we continue to expand the distribution of our products through the retail and private wealth channels (including through semi-liquid and perpetual structures), the number and composition of investors in such vehicles may change and we may experience more frequent or larger redemption requests, particularly during periods of market volatility or declining performance.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Economic events affecting the economy or market in general, such as volatility in the financial markets related to changes in markets, inflation, changes in interest rates or global or national events that are beyond our control, could cause investors to request redemption of an increased number of shares pursuant to the share redemption programs of our perpetual wealth vehicles, potentially in excess of established limits.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The market price of shares of our Class A common stock may be highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations. In addition, the trading volume in shares of our Class A common stock may fluctuate and cause significant price variations to occur. If the market price of shares of our Class A common stock declines significantly, holders of our Class A common stock may be unable to resell their shares of our Class A common stock at or above their purchase price, if at all. The market price of shares of our Class A common stock may fluctuate or decline significantly in the future.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The market price of shares of our Class A common stock may decline due to the large number of shares of Class A common stock eligible for exchange and future sale. The market price of shares of our Class A common stock could decline as a result of sales of a large number of shares of our Class A common stock in the market and non-voting common stock, to the extent that sales happen in the future or the perception that such sales could occur, including pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 trading plans. These sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, also might make it more difficult for us to sell shares of our Class A common stock in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The Credit Group offers the following credit strategies across the liquid and illiquid spectrum: Liquid Credit: Our liquid credit investment solutions help fixed income investors access the syndicated loan and high yield bond markets in the U.S. and Europe and capitalize on opportunities across multi-asset credit. The syndicated loans strategy seeks to deliver a diversified portfolio of liquid, traded secured loans to corporate issuers, offering one of the few floating-rate fixed income alternatives that can help investors manage duration. The high yield bond strategy seeks to deliver a diversified portfolio of liquid, traded corporate bonds, incorporating secured, unsecured and subordinated debt instruments of issuers.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Business Overview Ares is a leading global alternative investment manager with $622.5 billion of assets under management and over 4,250 employees in over 55 offices in more than 25 countries.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“We also recognize the importance of what we consider material environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) factors in our investment process to help enable us to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns and have adopted a responsible investment program for this purpose. We work collaboratively with our various underwriting, asset management, legal and compliance teams to appropriately integrate relevant ESG considerations into our investment process.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In December 2025, the European Commission renewed its adequacy decisions for the U.K., which permit the transfer of personal data from the EEA to the U.K., until December 27, 2031, subject to periodic review and potential renewal. While we currently rely on the adequacy decisions and other transfer mechanisms, the adequacy decisions could be modified, suspended or withdrawn in the future, which could require us and our portfolio companies to implement additional data transfer mechanisms and could increase costs and complexity.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Increasing scrutiny from stakeholders and regulators with respect to sustainability—or ESG—matters could impact our or our funds’ portfolio companies’ reputation, the cost of our or their operations, or result in investors ceasing to allocate their capital to us, all of which could adversely affect our business and results of operations. We, our funds and their portfolio companies face increasing public scrutiny related to ESG activities.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Certain institutional investors may consider such ESG ratings and measures in making their investment decisions. If our ESG ratings or practices do not meet the standards set by such investors or our stockholders, or if we fail, or are perceived to fail, to demonstrate progress toward our ESG objectives and initiatives, they may choose not to invest in our funds or exclude our common stock from their investments.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Relatedly, we, our funds and their portfolio companies risk damage to our brands and reputations, if we or they do not or are perceived to not act responsibly in a number of areas, including, but not limited to human rights, climate change and environmental stewardship, support for local communities, corporate governance and transparency, or consideration of ESG factors in our investment processes.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Moreover, in recent years “anti-ESG” sentiment has gained momentum across the U.S., with several states, the executive branch and federal agencies, and Congress having proposed, enacted, or indicated an intent to pursue “anti-ESG” policies, legislation, or initiatives, issued related legal opinions and pursued related investigations and litigation. If investors subject to anti-ESG legislation viewed our funds or responsible investing or ESG practices, including our climate-related goals 60 Table of Contents and commitments, as being in contradiction of such “anti-ESG” policies, legislation or legal opinions, such investors may not invest in our funds, our ability to maintain the size of our funds could be impaired, and it could negatively affect results of our operations, cash flow or the price of our common stock.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“New and evolving and sometimes conflicting sustainability/ESG regulations and disclosure expectations could increase our compliance costs and expose us to enforcement, litigation or fundraising constraints. Certain regulations related to ESG that are applicable to us, our funds and their portfolio companies could adversely affect our business.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The European Commission’s “action plan on financing sustainable growth” (“Action Plan”) is designed to, among other things, define and reorient investment toward more sustainable economic activities. The Action Plan contemplates, among other things: establishing EU labels for green financial products; clarifying asset managers’ and institutional investors’ duties regarding ESG in their investment decision-making processes; increasing disclosure requirements in the financial services sector around ESG and increasing the transparency of companies on their ESG policies and related processes and management systems; and introducing a ‘green supporting factor’ in the EU prudential rules for banks and insurance companies to incorporate climate risks into banks’ and insurance companies’ risk management policies.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The Taxonomy Regulation is a classification system that establishes a list of environmentally sustainable economic activities and sets out four overarching conditions that an economic activity has to meet in order to qualify as environmentally sustainable. The Taxonomy Regulation, amongst other things, introduces mandatory disclosure and reporting requirements and supplements the framework set out in the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (“SFDR”), which requires certain disclosures at both firm and fund level.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“For Ares, this primarily impacts our AIFMs and the funds they manage by requiring certain firm-level website disclosures regarding how sustainability risks are integrated into our investment process, consideration of adverse impacts of investment decisions on sustainability factors and transparency of remuneration practices and inclusion of certain fund-level information in pre-contractual and periodic disclosures.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“There is a risk that a significant reorientation in the market following the implementation of these regulations and further measures could be adverse to our funds’ portfolio companies if they are perceived to be less valuable as a consequence of, among other things, their carbon footprint or allegations or evidence of “greenwashing” (i.e., the holding out of a product as having green or sustainable characteristics where this is not, in fact, the case). There is also a risk that market expectations in relation to SFDR categorization of financial products could adversely affect our ability to raise capital, especially from EEA investors.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In November 2025, the European Commission published a 61 Table of Contents draft legislative proposal to revise SFDR to introduce, among others, new categories for sustainability-related financial products with related criteria that require to be met for each category. Ares cannot guarantee that its current approach will meet future regulatory requirements, reporting frameworks or best practices, increasing the risk of related enforcement.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Moreover, on January 5, 2023, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”) came into effect. Broadly, CSRD amends and strengthens the rules introduced on sustainability reporting for companies, banks and insurance companies under the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (2014/95/EU) (“NFRD”). CSRD requires companies to produce detailed and prescriptive reports on sustainability-related matters within their financial statements.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“One or more of our businesses may fall within scope of CSRD and this may lead to increased management burdens and costs.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In the U.K., the FCA has introduced a regulatory framework focused on implementing the recommendations of the Financial Stability Board’s TCFD and, in particular, by introducing mandatory TCFD-aligned disclosure requirements for certain FCA authorized firms. Pursuant to these rules, AML and AMUKL have to disclose certain climate-related financial information in line with the four overarching pillars of the TCFD recommendations (Governance, Strategy, Risk Management, Metrics & Targets) annually on a mandatory basis, and have done so since 2024.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Sustainability Labelling and Disclosure of Sustainability-Related Financial Information Instrument 2023 (“SDR”) introduces, among others, an ‘anti-greenwashing’ rule which applies to all U.K.-authorized firms in their communications with clients in the U.K. in relation to a product or service or when communicating or approving a financial promotion to a person in the U.K., which includes applicable Ares entities. Compliance with the anti-greenwashing rule may result in management burdens and additional regulatory costs.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In Asia, regulators in Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong have released guidelines for asset managers to integrate climate risk considerations in investment and risk management processes, together with enhanced disclosure and reporting and have also issued enhanced rules for certain ESG funds on general ESG risk management and disclosure.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Australia’s securities regulator confirmed that “greenwashing” has been an enforcement priority in recent years and issued information on its surveillance activities in respect of “greenwashing” in 2024. In 2025, Australia’s climate-related financial disclosure regime under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) came into effect, with reporting requirements applying to the largest entities first and being phased in over time to capture a broader group of entities.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Compliance with any new laws or regulations increases our regulatory burden and could result in increased legal, accounting and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time-consuming and costly, place strain on our personnel, systems and resources, affect the manner in which we or our funds’ portfolio companies conduct our businesses and adversely affect our profitability because of the need to collect certain information to meet the disclosure requirements.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Increased regulatory scrutiny, actions or fines, litigation, employee misconduct, failures or perceived failures to appropriately mitigate and manage ESG incidents, conflicts of interest, cyber-attacks and management of tax disputes, could among other events, harm our reputation and thus our ability to attract and retain investors and raise new capital for our funds, adversely affecting our business. While we have a robust compliance program in place and have successfully instituted a culture of compliance through our policies and procedures aimed to mitigate potential risks and enhanced regulatory action, we may be subject to new and heighted enforcement activity resulting in public sanctions or fines which could adversely impact our reputation.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our ESG initiatives, objectives, intentions and expectations are subject to change, and no assurance or guarantee can be given that such objectives, intentions or expectations (some of which are aspirational in nature) will be met. Statistics and metrics that we report relating to ESG matters are estimates and may be based on assumptions or developing standards (including our internal standards and policies). There can be no assurance that our ESG policies and procedures, including policies and procedures related to responsible investment or the application of ESG-related criteria or reviews to the investment process, including certain metrics or frameworks, will continue.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, the Federal Reserve decreased the federal funds rate multiple times in 2025. Changes in and uncertainty surrounding interest rates may have a material effect on our business, particularly with respect to the cost and availability of financing for significant acquisition and disposition transactions.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“We are exposed to risks associated with changes in interest rates. General interest rate fluctuations may have a substantial negative impact on our investments and investment opportunities and, accordingly, may have a material adverse effect on our investment objective and our net investment income.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, debt instruments that are held by our funds to maturity or for long terms must be “marked-to-market” periodically, and their values are therefore vulnerable to interest rate fluctuations and the changes in the general state of the credit environment, notwithstanding their underlying performance. Changes in the values of these investments may adversely affect our investment performance and our results of operations.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Dependence on significant leverage by our funds subjects us to volatility and contractions in the debt financing markets could adversely affect our ability to achieve attractive rates of return on those investments. Some of our funds and their investments rely on the use of leverage, and our ability to achieve attractive rates of return on investments will depend on our ability to access sufficient sources of indebtedness at attractive rates. If our funds or the companies in which our funds invest raise capital in the structured credit, leveraged loan, high yield bond or investment grade bond markets, the results of their operations may suffer if such markets experience dislocations, contractions or volatility.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Significant ongoing volatility or a protracted economic downturn could adversely affect the financial resources of our funds and their investments (in particular those investments that depend on credit from third parties or that otherwise participate in the credit markets) and their ability to make principal and interest payments on outstanding debt, or refinance outstanding debt when due. Moreover, these events could affect the terms of available debt financing with, for example, higher rates, higher equity requirements and/or more restrictive covenants, particularly in the area of acquisition financings for leveraged buyout and real estate assets transactions.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Table of Contents The absence of available sources of sufficient debt financing for extended periods of time or an increase in either the general levels of interest rates or in the risk spread demanded by sources of indebtedness would make it more expensive to finance those investments. Future increases in interest rates could also make it more difficult to locate and consummate investments because other potential buyers, including operating companies acting as strategic buyers, may be able to bid for an asset at a higher price due to a lower overall cost of capital or their ability to benefit from a higher amount of cost savings following the acquisition of the asset.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In the event that our funds are unable to obtain committed debt financing for potential acquisitions or can only obtain debt at an increased interest rate or on unfavorable terms, our funds may have difficulty completing otherwise profitable acquisitions or may generate profits that are lower than would otherwise be the case, either of which could reduce the performance and investment income earned by us. Similarly, our funds’ portfolio companies regularly utilize the corporate debt markets to obtain financing for their operations. If the credit markets render such financing difficult to obtain or more expensive, this may negatively impact the operating performance of those portfolio companies and, therefore, the investment returns of our funds.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“When our funds’ existing portfolio investments reach the point when debt incurred to finance those investments matures in significant amounts and must be either repaid or refinanced, those investments may materially suffer if they have not generated sufficient cash flow to repay maturing debt and there is insufficient capacity and availability in the financing markets to permit them to refinance maturing debt on satisfactory terms, or at all. A persistence of the limited availability of financing for such purposes for an extended period of time when significant amounts of the debt incurred to finance our funds’ existing portfolio investments becomes due could have a material adverse effect on these funds.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“For example, CLOs are subject to credit, liquidity, interest rate and other risks and we have significant exposure to these markets through our investments in our CLO funds. CLOs invest on a leveraged basis in loans or securities that are themselves highly leveraged investments in the underlying collateral, which increases both the opportunity for higher returns as well as the magnitude of losses compared to unlevered investments.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“A fund may borrow money from time to time to purchase or carry securities or may enter into derivative transactions with counterparties that have embedded leverage. The interest expense and other costs incurred in connection with such borrowing may not be recovered by appreciation in the securities purchased or carried and will be lost, and the timing and magnitude of such losses may be accelerated or exacerbated, in the event of a decline in the market value of such securities.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Gains realized with borrowed funds may cause the fund’s net asset value to increase at a faster rate than would be the case without borrowings. However, if investment results fail to cover the cost of borrowings, the fund’s net asset value could also decrease faster than if there had been no borrowings.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“For example, in many non-distressed private equity investments, indebtedness may be as much as 75% or more of a portfolio company’s or real estate asset’s total debt and equity capitalization, including debt that may be incurred in connection with the investment, 67 Table of Contents whether incurred at or above the investment-level entity. In distressed situations, indebtedness may exceed 100% or more of a portfolio company’s capitalization. Investments in highly leveraged entities are inherently more sensitive to declines in revenues, increases in expenses and interest rates and volatile or adverse economic, market and industry developments.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, market conditions can also delay our funds’ ability to exit and realize value from their investments. For example, fluctuations in interest rates and challenging credit markets may make it difficult for potential buyers to raise sufficient capital to purchase our funds’ investments. Although the equity markets are not the only means by which we exit investments from our funds, the strength and liquidity of the U.S. and relevant global equity markets generally, and the initial public offering market specifically, affect the valuation of, and our ability to successfully exit, our equity positions in the portfolio companies of our funds in a timely manner.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Economic events affecting the economy or market in general, such as volatility in the financial markets related to changes in markets, inflation, changes in interest rates or global or national events that are beyond our control, could cause investors to request redemption of an increased number of shares pursuant to the share redemption programs of our perpetual wealth vehicles, potentially in excess of established limits.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“These investments are subject to the potential for deterioration of market fundamentals and the risk of adverse changes in local market and economic conditions, which may include changes in supply of and demand for liquid credit, alternative credit and direct lending.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our use of leverage to finance our businesses exposes us to substantial risks. As of December 31, 2025, we had $1,380 million borrowings outstanding under the Credit Facility and aggregate principal amount of senior notes and subordinated notes of $2,150.0 million and $450.0 million, respectively, are outstanding. We may choose to finance our businesses operations through further borrowings under the Credit Facility or by issuing additional debt.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our funds may choose to use leverage as part of their respective investment programs and certain funds, particularly in our Credit Group, regularly borrow a substantial amount of their capital. The use of leverage poses a significant degree of risk and enhances the possibility of a significant loss in the value of the investment portfolio.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Some of our funds may invest in companies that are highly leveraged, which may increase the risk of loss associated with those investments. Some of our funds may invest in companies whose capital structures involve significant leverage.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Human Capital We believe that our people and our culture are the most critical strategic drivers of our success as a firm. Creating a welcoming and inclusive work environment with opportunities for growth and development is essential to attracting and retaining a high-performance team, which in turn is necessary to drive differentiated outcomes.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Competition is also intense for the attraction and retention of qualified employees. Our ability to continue to compete effectively in our businesses will depend upon our ability to attract new employees and retain and motivate our existing employees.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our future growth will depend in part on our ability to maintain an operating platform and management system sufficient to address our growth and will require us to incur significant additional expenses and to commit additional senior management and operational resources. As a result, we face significant challenges in: •maintaining adequate financial, regulatory (legal, tax and compliance) and business controls; •providing current and future investors with accurate and consistent reporting; •implementing new or updated information and financial systems and procedures; •monitoring and enhancing our cybersecurity and data privacy risk management; and •training, managing and appropriately sizing our work force and other components of our businesses on a timely and cost-effective basis.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Employee misconduct and failure to comply with applicable laws, obligations and standards could harm us by impairing our ability to attract and retain investors and subjecting us to significant legal liability, regulatory scrutiny and reputational harm. We are subject to a number of laws, obligations and standards arising from our investment management business and our authority over the assets managed by our investment management business.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“If our current or former employees were to use or disclose confidential information improperly, we could suffer serious harm to our reputation, financial position and current and future business relationships. Additionally, we allow certain of our employees to work on a hybrid schedule or remotely, which has required us to develop and implement additional precautions in order to detect and prevent employee misconduct.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“It is not always possible to detect or deter employee misconduct, and the extensive precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in all cases. If one or more of our current or former employees were to engage in misconduct or were to be accused of such misconduct, our businesses and our reputation could be adversely affected and a loss of investor confidence could result, which would adversely impact our ability to raise future funds.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our current and former employees and those of our funds’ portfolio companies may also become subject to allegations of sexual harassment, racial and gender discrimination or other similar misconduct, which, regardless of the ultimate outcome, may result in adverse publicity that could harm our and such portfolio company’s brand and reputation. The pervasiveness of social media, coupled with increased public focus on the externalities of activities unrelated to the business, could further magnify the reputational risks associated with negative publicity.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“For example, •Ownership of infrastructure assets may also present additional risk of liability for personal and property injury or impose significant operating challenges and costs with respect to, for example, compliance with zoning, environmental or other applicable laws. •Infrastructure asset investments may face construction risks including, without limitation: (i) labor disputes, shortages of material and skilled labor, or work stoppages; (ii) slower than projected construction progress and the unavailability or late delivery of necessary equipment; (iii) less than optimal coordination with public utilities in the relocation of their facilities; (iv) adverse weather conditions and unexpected construction conditions; (v) accidents or the breakdown or failure of construction equipment or processes; and (vi) catastrophic events such as explosions, fires, terrorist activities and other similar events.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Further, geopolitical and domestic political uncertainty, unexpected shifts in monetary and fiscal policy, changes in interest rates, depressed labor force participation, the risk of labor shortages in the face of more restrictive immigration policies, supply chain pressures and other general economic trends may impact the performance of our portfolio companies in many industries and geographies.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, the performance of our investment funds and our portfolio companies may be adversely affected by increases in inflationary pressures such as employee wage growth or rising input costs, which could compress profit margins, particularly at our portfolio companies that are unable to effectively increase prices in response.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“We depend on our executive officers, senior professionals and other key personnel, and our ability to retain them and attract additional qualified personnel is critical to our success and our growth prospects. We depend on the diligence, skill, judgment, business contacts and personal reputations of our executive officers, senior professionals and other key personnel. Our future success will depend upon our ability to retain our senior professionals and other key personnel and our ability to recruit additional qualified personnel.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Competition for qualified, motivated, and highly-skilled executives, professionals and other key personnel in investment management firms is significant, both in the U.S. and internationally, and we may not succeed in recruiting additional personnel or we may fail to effectively replace current personnel who depart with qualified or effective successors.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our efforts to retain and attract investment professionals may also result in significant additional expenses, which could adversely affect our profitability or result in an increase in the portion of our carried interest and incentive fees that we grant to our investment professionals. Additionally, we expect expenses related to equity-based compensation to increase in the future as we grant equity-based awards to attract, retain and compensate employees.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“•People and Culture: As part of our ongoing effort to foster a culture built on apprenticeship, we support the growth and advancement of talent through various mentorship and professional development programs. In line with our continued commitment to support an environment where all team members experience a genuine sense of belonging, we hold educational trainings and employee engagement events, often in partnership with our 14 employee communities that help to support our inclusion strategy and recognize the different cultures, backgrounds and experiences of our employees.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Additionally, technological innovation, including the use of artificial intelligence and data science, has the potential to disrupt the financial industry and change the way financial institutions, including asset managers, do business. Some of our competitors may be more successful than us in the development and implementation of new technologies, including services 34 Table of Contents and platforms based on artificial intelligence, to address various matters including investor demand, operations or investment activity. We are advancing our capabilities in these areas as their application to our industry continues to evolve, but if we are unable to adequately do so, or do so at a slower pace than others in our industry, we may be at a competitive disadvantage.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Developments in financial technology, such as artificial intelligence or distributed ledger technology (or blockchain), have the potential to disrupt the financial industry and change the way financial institutions, including investment managers, do business, and could exacerbate these competitive pressures.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Table of Contents Finally, there continues to be significant evolution and developments in the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, including generative artificial intelligence and large language models. We cannot fully determine the impact of such evolving technology to our business at this time.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The final rule prohibits or imposes notification requirements on certain outbound investments involving semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies and artificial intelligence by U.S. persons into certain entities with a nexus to China. These restrictions on U.S. outbound investments could limit the universe of prospective investments available to us, make it more difficult to deploy capital or identify buyers for investments, and/or adversely affect the governance and operations of our investments and thus 69 Table of Contents our overall performance.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, advancements in computing and artificial intelligence tools and technologies without related increases in the adoption and development of such technologies could negatively impact demand for, and the valuation of, digital infrastructure assets. Due to the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence technologies, we may not be able to take full advantage of growth opportunities within digital infrastructure.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Rapid and unforeseen technological transformation, such as the recent technological developments with respect to artificial intelligence, may introduce the risk of obsolescence to portfolio companies and negatively affect their performance.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Artificial intelligence, including machine learning technology and generative artificial intelligence, is rapidly evolving. While the full extent of current or future risks related thereto is not possible to predict, artificial intelligence could significantly disrupt the business models and markets in which we operate and subject us to increased competition, legal and regulatory risks and compliance costs, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“These uses come with potential risks, including, but not limited to, generation of inaccurate results, misuse or disclosures of confidential information, infringement of third-party intellectual property rights, potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities, reputational risk and regulatory burdens. In addition, artificial intelligence models may create outputs that are flawed, inaccurate, biased, or that infringe or misappropriate intellectual property of third parties.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“We may also be exposed to competitive risks related to the adoption of artificial intelligence or other new technologies by others within our industry. If our competitors are more successful than us in the use of artificial intelligence or development of services or products based on artificial intelligence, or we adopt artificial intelligence at a slower pace than others, we may be at a competitive disadvantage.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Venture Capital: Our venture capital business is focused on fund strategies that seek to advance proprietary artificial intelligence solutions and to partner with industry leading vendors to help drive efficiencies for our portfolio companies, assets and certain investment and business processes.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our businesses are materially affected by conditions in the global financial markets and economic and political conditions throughout the world that are outside our control. These conditions may affect the level and volatility of securities prices and the liquidity and value of investments, and we may not be able to or may choose not to manage our exposure to these conditions. This could in turn materially reduce our revenue, earnings and cash flow and adversely affect our financial prospects and condition.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Table of Contents Global financial markets have experienced heightened volatility in recent periods, including as a result of economic and political events in or affecting the world’s major economies, such as the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East. Sanctions imposed by the U.S. and other countries, including on Iran and in connection with hostilities between Russia and Ukraine and the tensions between China and Taiwan, have caused additional financial market volatility and affected the global economy.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In recent periods, geopolitical tensions, including between the U.S. and China, have escalated. Further escalation of such tensions and the related imposition of sanctions or other trade barriers may negatively impact the rate of global growth, particularly in China, where growth has slowed.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Table of Contents Economic sanction laws in the U.S. and other jurisdictions may prohibit us and our affiliates from transacting with certain countries, individuals and companies, which could negatively impact our business, financial condition and operating results. Economic sanction laws in the U.S. and other jurisdictions may restrict or prohibit us or our affiliates from transacting with certain countries, territories, individuals and entities.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) administers and enforces laws, executive orders and regulations establishing U.S. economic and trade sanctions, which restrict or prohibit, among other things, direct and indirect transactions with, and the provision of services to, certain foreign countries, territories, individuals and entities. These types of sanctions may significantly restrict or completely prohibit lending activities in certain jurisdictions, and if we were to violate any such laws or regulations, we may face significant legal and monetary penalties, as well as reputational damage.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The U.K.’s divergence from the EU (“Brexit”) could adversely affect our business and our operations. Following the U.K.’s divergence from the EU on January 31, 2020 and a transitional period, EEA “passporting rights” which previously facilitated certain EEA investor-facing activities by AML and AMUKL, are no longer available.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, we may face an increased risk of such misconduct to the extent our investment in foreign markets, particularly emerging markets, increase. Such markets may not have established laws and regulations that are as stringent as in more developed nations, or existing laws and regulations may not be consistently enforced.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Certain of our investments may be subject to review and approval by CFIUS or any non-U.S. equivalents thereof, which may have outsized impacts on transaction certainty, timing, feasibility and cost, and may prevent us from maintaining or pursuing investment opportunities that we otherwise would have maintained or pursued. CFIUS or any non-U.S. equivalents thereof may seek to impose limitations, conditions or restrictions on or prohibit one or more of our investments, which may adversely affect the ability of our funds to execute on their investment strategy with respect to such transaction as well as limit our flexibility in structuring or financing certain transactions.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our funds invest in companies in many different industries, each of which is subject to volatility based upon a variety of factors, including economic, market, and geopolitical factors.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“AM Lux and its EU branches were established to enable Ares to continue certain regulated activities in the EU post Brexit, such as the management and marketing of funds (including funds managed by affiliates of AM Lux) to European investors. The TCA remains the principal framework governing relations between the U.K. and the EU but it does not substantively address financial services, including reciprocal market access into the EU by U.K. firms, under equivalence arrangements or otherwise. Progress on a comprehensive regulatory cooperation agreement has been limited, and U.K.-based financial firms face ongoing uncertainty over access to EU markets, pending any further developments in the equivalence regime or bilateral arrangements.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“These developments, together with heightened scrutiny of private equity and alternative asset managers (including with respect to serial acquisitions, “roll-up” strategies and potential interlocking directorates), are expected to increase scrutiny of mergers and acquisitions and could result in more stringent standards for approving transactions and potential review of previously consummated transactions. As a result, the process of obtaining clearance from U.S. antitrust agencies and other antitrust authorities for mergers and acquisitions undertaken by the investment funds we manage is expected to become more challenging, more time consuming and more expensive.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Rapid growth of our businesses, particularly outside the U.S., may be difficult to sustain and may place significant demands on our administrative, operational and financial resources. Our assets under management have grown significantly in the past, and we are pursuing further growth in the near future, both organic and through acquisitions. Our rapid growth has placed, and planned growth, if successful, will continue to place significant demands on our legal, accounting, compliance and operational infrastructure and has increased expenses.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Table of Contents Our growth strategy is based, in part, on the selective development or acquisition of asset management businesses, advisory businesses or other businesses complementary to our business where we think we can add substantial value or generate substantial returns. The success of this strategy will depend on, among other things, (i) the availability of suitable opportunities, (ii) the level of competition from other companies that may have greater financial resources, (iii) our ability to value potential development or acquisition opportunities accurately and negotiate acceptable terms for those opportunities, (iv) our ability to obtain requisite approvals and licenses from the relevant governmental authorities and to comply with applicable laws and regulations without incurring undue costs and delays, (v) our ability to identify and enter into mutually beneficial relationships with venture partners, and (vi) our ability to properly manage conflicts of interest.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“We may also acquire other investment managers or hire additional personnel who are not subject to the same restrictions as us, but whose activity, and the activity of their principals, prior to our ownership or employment of such person could affect our fundraising.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The weakness and the uncertainty regarding the stability of the oil and gas markets resulted in a tightening of credit across multiple sectors.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The power, infrastructure and energy companies in which certain of our funds invest have been and may be negatively impacted by material declines in power and energy related commodity prices and are subject to other risks, including among others, supply and demand risk, operational risk, regulatory risk, depletion risk, reserve risk, reputational risk, severe weather, climate change and catastrophic event risk (including of cyber-attacks). Commodity prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in market and economic conditions, the impact of weather on demand, climate initiatives of government entities, levels of domestic production and international production, policies implemented by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, power and energy conservation, domestic and foreign governmental regulation and taxation and the availability of local, intrastate and interstate transportation systems.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“As of December 31, 2025, approximately 2% of our total AUM was invested in debt and equity investments in the energy sector, including midstream investments, oil and gas exploration, and renewable energy investments.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The weakness and the uncertainty regarding the stability of the oil and gas markets resulted in a tightening of credit across multiple sectors.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The power, infrastructure and energy companies in which certain of our funds invest have been and may be negatively impacted by material declines in power and energy related commodity prices and are subject to other risks, including among others, supply and demand risk, operational risk, regulatory risk, depletion risk, reserve risk, reputational risk, severe weather, climate change and catastrophic event risk (including of cyber-attacks). Commodity prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in market and economic conditions, the impact of weather on demand, climate initiatives of government entities, levels of domestic production and international production, policies implemented by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, power and energy conservation, domestic and foreign governmental regulation and taxation and the availability of local, intrastate and interstate transportation systems.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“As of December 31, 2025, approximately 2% of our total AUM was invested in debt and equity investments in the energy sector, including midstream investments, oil and gas exploration, and renewable energy investments.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our U.K., other European and Asian operations and our investment activities worldwide are subject to a variety of regulatory regimes that vary by country. In the EU, examples of further legislation may include proposals for further changes to or reviews of the extent and interpretation of pay regulation, including under the EU Regulation on the prudential requirements of investment firms (Regulation (EU) 2019/2033) and its accompanying Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/2034) or the U.K. version, the Investment Firms Prudential Regime (which may have an impact on the retention and recruitment of key personnel), proposals for enhanced regulation of loan origination (see “—Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive”) and new reporting requirements in relation to securities financing transactions.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive AIFMD applies to: (i) AIFMs established in the EEA that manage EEA or non-EEA AIFs; (ii) non-EEA AIFMs that manage EEA AIFs; and (iii) non-EEA AIFMs that market their AIFs to professional investors within the EEA. Non-EEA AIFMs do not currently benefit from marketing passport rights and may only market AIFs to investors in some EEA jurisdictions in accordance with national private placement regimes.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“AIFMD II imposes a range of requirements on AIFMs which may increase the cost of doing business for AM Lux and Ares’ non-EEA AIFMs (including AMUKL) to the extent they market funds in the EEA and potentially disadvantages our funds as investors in private companies located in EEA member states compared to non-AIF/AIFM competitors that may not be subject to such requirements.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The U.K.’s divergence from the EU (“Brexit”) could adversely affect our business and our operations. Following the U.K.’s divergence from the EU on January 31, 2020 and a transitional period, EEA “passporting rights” which previously facilitated certain EEA investor-facing activities by AML and AMUKL, are no longer available.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The U.K. continues to review its financial services and markets regime, introducing measures via initiatives such as the Edinburgh Reforms to diverge from aspects of the EU regime. To the extent such measures result in a material divergence between the U.K. and EU regulatory regime continues, compliance with two diverging regulatory regimes may increase the operational burden and cost to our operations in these jurisdictions. These complex issues and other by-products of Brexit may increase the costs of having operations, conducting business and making investments in the U.K. and Europe.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“AM Lux and its EU branches were established to enable Ares to continue certain regulated activities in the EU post Brexit, such as the management and marketing of funds (including funds managed by affiliates of AM Lux) to European investors. The TCA remains the principal framework governing relations between the U.K. and the EU but it does not substantively address financial services, including reciprocal market access into the EU by U.K. firms, under equivalence arrangements or otherwise. Progress on a comprehensive regulatory cooperation agreement has been limited, and U.K.-based financial firms face ongoing uncertainty over access to EU markets, pending any further developments in the equivalence regime or bilateral arrangements.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Business Overview Ares is a leading global alternative investment manager with $622.5 billion of assets under management and over 4,250 employees in over 55 offices in more than 25 countries.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our real estate activities are managed by equity and debt teams in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific (“APAC”), supported by our vertically-integrated operating platforms.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Real Estate: Our real estate strategy encompasses equity and debt across core, value-add and opportunistic investments in predominantly the Americas, Europe and APAC. We provide investors access to our real estate investment capabilities through private commingled vehicles, SMAs, publicly-traded funds and perpetual wealth vehicles.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our vertically-integrated operating teams are strategically located across the Americas, Europe and APAC in our key target markets, to invest in core, value-add, and development opportunities that are accretive to our portfolios and drive returns for our investors.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Corporate Private Equity: Our team consists of over 45 investment professionals based primarily in Los Angeles and London. Our private equity funds are leaders in the Americas and European middle market, where they focus on growth buyout transactions.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our U.S. and European direct lending strategies rank among the largest in their respective markets, supported by investment committee members who average decades of experience.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“As of December 31, 2025, our total AUM was divided by channel, and further our institutional direct AUM by client type and geographic origin as follows ($ in billions): Institutional Direct Perpetual Wealth Vehicles Publicly-Traded Vehicles Pension Insurance Bank Americas APAC Europe Institutional Intermediaries Sovereign Wealth Fund Investment Manager High Net Worth and Private Bank Middle East & Africa Other The following chart presents the AUM of investors committed to more than one of our funds as of December 31, 2025 compared to December 31, 2020 ($ in billions): We believe that the AUM of multi-fund investors demonstrates our investors’ satisfaction with our performance, disciplined management of their capital and diverse product offering.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Certain of our subsidiaries operate outside the U.S. In Luxembourg, AM Lux is subject to regulation by the CSSF.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“As a result, the performance of our funds which are focused on investing in the U.K. and to a lesser extent across Europe, such as certain funds in our Credit and Real Assets Groups may be disproportionately affected compared to those funds that invest more broadly across global geographies or are focused on different regions.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Many of our funds invest a portion of their assets in the equity, debt, loans or other securities of issuers located outside the U.S., including Europe and APAC, while certain of our funds invest substantially all of their assets in these types of securities, and we expect that international investments will increase as a proportion of certain of our funds’ portfolios in the future.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Although we have risk-management models and processes to ensure that we are not exposed to a single counterparty for significant periods of time, given the large number and size of our funds, we often have large positions with a single counterparty. For example, most of our funds have credit lines. If the lender under one or more of those credit lines were to become insolvent, we may have difficulty replacing the credit line and one or more of our funds may face liquidity problems.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In the event of the insolvency of a prime broker, custodian, counterparty or any other party that is holding assets of our funds as collateral, our funds might not be able to recover equivalent assets in full as they will rank among the prime broker’s, custodian’s or counterparty’s unsecured creditors in relation to the assets held as collateral. In addition, our funds’ cash held with a prime broker, custodian or counterparty generally will not be segregated from the prime broker’s, custodian’s or counterparty’s own cash, and our funds may therefore rank as unsecured creditors in relation thereto.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“For example, we and most of our funds have credit lines. If the lender under one or more of those credit lines 51 Table of Contents were to freeze the account or become insolvent, we may have difficulty replacing the credit line and the affected fund(s) or we may face liquidity challenges, which may adversely affect our business operations or the fund’s ability to close on an investment.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“More frequent and substantive updates to RBC and AAT frameworks could also create additional operational complexity or affect the capital planning or reinsurance strategies of insurers with which we conduct business.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Table of Contents Insurance company investment portfolios are often subject to internal and regulatory requirements governing the categories and ratings of investment products they may acquire and hold. Many of the investment products we develop for, or other assets or investments we include in, insurance company portfolios will be rated and a ratings downgrade or any other negative action by a rating agency with respect to such products, assets or investments could make them less attractive and limit our ability to offer such products to, or invest or deploy capital on behalf of, insurers.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Changes in rules and regulations impacting the insurance industry could adversely impact our expansion into the insurance industry, the prospects of Aspida Re, a Bermuda insurance company, and other investments we make in the insurance industry, both in the U.S. and abroad and limit our ability to raise capital for our funds from insurance companies, which could limit our ability to grow.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Table of Contents Credit Group Through our Credit Group, we serve as one of the largest managers of credit strategies across the non-investment grade credit universe, with $406.9 billion of AUM and over 305 funds as of December 31, 2025. The Credit Group provides solutions for investors seeking to access a wide range of credit assets, including liquid credit, alternative credit and direct lending products. The Credit Group is one of the largest self-originating direct lenders to the U.S. and European middle markets with a growing presence in the APAC region, offering one-stop financing solutions for small-to-medium sized companies and counterparties that we believe are increasingly underserved by traditional bank lenders. Our approach combines structuring expertise and origination capabilities to deliver directly originated fixed and floating rate credit assets, enabling investors to capitalize on illiquidity premiums across the credit spectrum.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Business Overview Ares is a leading global alternative investment manager with $622.5 billion of assets under management and over 4,250 employees in over 55 offices in more than 25 countries.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Ares Insurance Solutions: AIS is Ares’ dedicated, in-house team that provides solutions to insurance clients including asset management, capital solutions and corporate development. AIS strives to provide insurers with attractive risk and capital adjusted return profiles that fit within regulatory, rating agency and other counterparty guidelines. Leveraging over 1,650 investment professionals across our investment groups, AIS creates tailored investment solutions that meet the unique objectives of our insurance clients.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“AIS acts as the dedicated investment manager, capital solutions and corporate development partner to Aspida Life Insurance Company (“Aspida Life”) and Aspida Life Re Limited (“Aspida Re,” collectively with Aspida Life, Aspida Holdings Ltd. and its subsidiaries, “Aspida”), which are insurance companies that focus on the U.S. life and annuity insurance and reinsurance markets, respectively. AIS manages $25.9 billion of AUM as of December 31, 2025, of which $16.9 billion is sub-advised by Ares vehicles and included within other strategies.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our high-quality institutional investor base includes corporate and public pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, banks, investment managers, endowments and foundations.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Regulations impacting the insurance industry could adversely affect our business and our operations, and our provision of products and services to insurance companies, including through Aspida, subjects us to a variety of risks and uncertainties. The insurance industry is subject to significant regulatory oversight, both in the U.S. and abroad. Regulatory authorities in many relevant jurisdictions have broad administrative, and in some cases discretionary, authority with respect to insurance companies and/or their investment advisers, which may include, among other things, the investments insurance companies may acquire and hold, marketing practices, affiliate transactions, reserve requirements, capital adequacy including insurance company licensing and examination, agent licensing, establishment of reserve requirements and solvency standards, premium rate regulation, admissibility of assets, policy form approval, unfair trade and claims practices, advertising, maintaining policyholder privacy, payment of dividends and distributions to shareholders, investments, review and/or approval of transactions with affiliates, reinsurance, acquisitions, mergers and other matters.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The BMA considers us to be the “shareholder controller” (as defined in the Bermuda Insurance Act) of Aspida Re, a Bermuda Class E insurance company. Aspida Re is subject to regulation and supervision by the BMA, and compliance with all applicable Bermuda law and Bermuda insurance statutes and regulations, including but not limited to the Bermuda Insurance Act.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“For example, more than two dozen U.S. states have enacted or are considering legislation that would prohibit, restrict, or regulate foreign investment in real property in such states. We cannot exclude that some or all of these states may prohibit, restrict or regulate (including requiring disclosure of) our funds’ transactions, including based on the composition of our investor base.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Real Estate: Our real estate strategy encompasses equity and debt across core, value-add and opportunistic investments in predominantly the Americas, Europe and APAC. We provide investors access to our real estate investment capabilities through private commingled vehicles, SMAs, publicly-traded funds and perpetual wealth vehicles.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“•Real Estate Equity: Primary areas of focus for our real estate equity team include: •Logistics: Our logistics real estate platform is focused on investment in strategically located, institutional quality properties through market cycles. We focus on logistics markets that have historically exhibited stable occupancy levels and rent growth over cycles. Our vertically-integrated operating teams are strategically located across the Americas, Europe and APAC in our key target markets, to invest in core, value-add, and development opportunities that are accretive to our portfolios and drive returns for our investors. Marq Logistics represents the brand of our vertically-integrated global logistics real estate platform that we use to manage our portfolio of logistics properties. •Diversified: Our diversified real estate platform is dedicated to investing across sectors and property types in the U.S. and Europe.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“•Real Estate Debt: Our real estate debt team primarily focuses on directly originating a wide range of financing opportunities in the U.S. and Europe. By investing through multiple investment vehicles, our real estate debt team has the ability to provide flexible financing across the capital structure and risk-return spectrum, including core/core-plus, value-add, and opportunistic debt.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“•Infrastructure Opportunities: Our infrastructure opportunities team seeks to utilize a broad origination strategy, flexible investment approach, and leverage industry relationships and the Ares platform to build a portfolio of high-quality infrastructure investments and deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns. We believe our experience as core and value-add investors, our flexible approach, and broad infrastructure experience position us well to take advantage of the growing opportunity set in the middle market across both the energy transition and the broader infrastructure market. •Infrastructure Debt: Our infrastructure debt team sources assets and businesses across regions with defensive characteristics across the digital, transport, energy and utility sectors.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“We believe our experience as core and value-add investors, our flexible approach, and broad infrastructure experience position us well to take advantage of the growing opportunity set in the middle market across both the energy transition and the broader infrastructure market. •Infrastructure Debt: Our infrastructure debt team sources assets and businesses across regions with defensive characteristics across the digital, transport, energy and utility sectors. We aim to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns focused on cash yield by targeting infrastructure debt investments with defensive characteristics that have the potential to perform across different market cycles.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“As of December 31, 2025, approximately 2% of our total AUM was invested in debt and equity investments in the energy sector, including midstream investments, oil and gas exploration, and renewable energy investments.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Infrastructure: Our long-tenured global infrastructure team, with over 130 investment professionals, seeks to utilize its strong local sourcing capabilities and extensive sector experience to originate and manage diverse, high-quality infrastructure investments across the globe and, as of December 31, 2025, managed $25.3 billion of AUM in more than 25 investment vehicles.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“On March 1, 2025, we completed the acquisition of the international business of GLP Capital Partners Limited and certain of its affiliates, excluding its operations in Greater China (“GCP International”), and existing capital commitments to certain managed funds (such acquisition of GCP International and the capital commitments, the “GCP Acquisition”). The GCP Acquisition added complementary logistics and digital infrastructure investment capabilities and expanded our geographic presence.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“•Digital Infrastructure: Our digital infrastructure team manages a fully vertically-integrated global business, combining competitive investment management with in-house data center development and operational expertise. Ada Infrastructure, our dedicated data center operating platform, includes professionals from established hyperscalers and operators. We aim to maximize value and deliver enhanced risk-adjusted returns at scale for investors by leveraging our fully integrated approach, offering differentiated sourcing, underwriting, technical insights and operational expertise.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“These investments are subject to the potential for deterioration of real estate fundamentals and the risk of adverse changes in local market and economic conditions, which may include changes in supply of and demand for competing properties in an area, fluctuating occupancy rates and changes in demand for commercial office properties (including as a result of an increased prevalence of remote work).”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Flexibility: We believe that our culture benefits from people collaborating in-person in our offices, while also recognizing the value of flexibility. We are committed to providing flexibility to our employees, and in 2025, we continued to offer business-group-driven flexibility frameworks, a day off for mental health and our summer “Work From Anywhere” program, which allows people to work virtually for up to a maximum of three weeks.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The Credit Group is one of the largest self-originating direct lenders to the U.S. and European middle markets with a growing presence in the APAC region, offering one-stop financing solutions for small-to-medium sized companies and counterparties that we believe are increasingly underserved by traditional bank lenders. Our approach combines structuring expertise and origination capabilities to deliver directly originated fixed and floating rate credit assets, enabling investors to capitalize on illiquidity premiums across the credit spectrum.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Direct Lending: We manage various types of direct lending vehicles within our U.S. and European direct lending teams including commingled funds, SMAs for large institutional investors seeking tailored investment solutions and joint venture lending programs. We serve as one of the largest self-originating direct lenders to the U.S. and European markets, with $274.3 billion of AUM in over 105 fund, investment vehicles and SMAs, as of December 31, 2025.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“APAC Private Equity: Our APAC private equity team of over 35 investment professionals as of December 31, 2025 focuses on primarily pursuing structured growth equity investments in control, joint control and minority ownership formats. We seek to invest in high-quality middle market companies in our core industries, namely consumer, healthcare and services, that give us exposure to rising consumer and business activity in the APAC region.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our private equity funds are leaders in the Americas and European middle market, where they focus on growth buyout transactions. We seek to bring large capital resources to high-quality, services-oriented middle market companies where we can utilize the team’s thematic approach, extensive growth-oriented investing experience and dedicated value creation system to target attractive returns across market environments.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Ares Insurance Solutions: AIS is Ares’ dedicated, in-house team that provides solutions to insurance clients including asset management, capital solutions and corporate development. AIS strives to provide insurers with attractive risk and capital adjusted return profiles that fit within regulatory, rating agency and other counterparty guidelines. Leveraging over 1,650 investment professionals across our investment groups, AIS creates tailored investment solutions that meet the unique objectives of our insurance clients.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition to our expansive relationships with institutional investors, we have further diversified our investor base through our publicly-traded vehicles and through our wealth distribution platform, AWMS. AWMS facilitates the product development, distribution, marketing and client management activities for investment offerings in the global wealth management channel with over 175 professionals.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Business Overview Ares is a leading global alternative investment manager with $622.5 billion of assets under management and over 4,250 employees in over 55 offices in more than 25 countries.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“APAC Private Equity: Our APAC private equity team of over 35 investment professionals as of December 31, 2025 focuses on primarily pursuing structured growth equity investments in control, joint control and minority ownership formats. We seek to invest in high-quality middle market companies in our core industries, namely consumer, healthcare and services, that give us exposure to rising consumer and business activity in the APAC region.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our businesses are materially affected by conditions in the global financial markets and economic and political conditions throughout the world that are outside our control. These conditions may affect the level and volatility of securities prices and the liquidity and value of investments, and we may not be able to or may choose not to manage our exposure to these conditions. This could in turn materially reduce our revenue, earnings and cash flow and adversely affect our financial prospects and condition.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Negative financial results in our funds’ portfolio companies may reduce the value of their portfolio companies, the net asset value of our funds and the investment returns for our funds, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and cash flow.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our funds may be unable to deploy capital at a steady and consistent pace, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and future fundraising. The pace and consistency of our funds’ capital deployment has been, and may in the future continue to be, affected by a range of factors, including market conditions, regulatory developments and increased competition, which are beyond our control.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In particular, the private equity and certain real estate markets have from time to time experienced challenges with downward pressure on valuations and muted opportunities for investment and realizations. These market dynamics may impact the pace and consistency of our funds’ capital deployment.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Significant ongoing volatility or a protracted economic downturn could adversely affect the financial resources of our funds and their investments (in particular those investments that depend on credit from third parties or that otherwise participate in the credit markets) and their ability to make principal and interest payments on outstanding debt, or refinance outstanding debt when due. Moreover, these events could affect the terms of available debt financing with, for example, higher rates, higher equity requirements and/or more restrictive covenants, particularly in the area of acquisition financings for leveraged buyout and real estate assets transactions.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“For example, in many non-distressed private equity investments, indebtedness may be as much as 75% or more of a portfolio company’s or real estate asset’s total debt and equity capitalization, including debt that may be incurred in connection with the investment, 67 Table of Contents whether incurred at or above the investment-level entity. In distressed situations, indebtedness may exceed 100% or more of a portfolio company’s capitalization. Investments in highly leveraged entities are inherently more sensitive to declines in revenues, increases in expenses and interest rates and volatile or adverse economic, market and industry developments.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“These investments are subject to the potential for deterioration of market fundamentals and the risk of adverse changes in local market and economic conditions, which may include changes in supply of and demand for liquid credit, alternative credit and direct lending.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The power, infrastructure and energy companies in which certain of our funds invest have been and may be negatively impacted by material declines in power and energy related commodity prices and are subject to other risks, including among others, supply and demand risk, operational risk, regulatory risk, depletion risk, reserve risk, reputational risk, severe weather, climate change and catastrophic event risk (including of cyber-attacks). Commodity prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in market and economic conditions, the impact of weather on demand, climate initiatives of government entities, levels of domestic production and international production, policies implemented by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, power and energy conservation, domestic and foreign governmental regulation and taxation and the availability of local, intrastate and interstate transportation systems.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our funds invest in companies in many different industries, each of which is subject to volatility based upon a variety of factors, including economic, market, and geopolitical factors.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In the EU, an amending directive to AIFMD, commonly referred to as “AIFMD II”, was published on March 26, 2024 and will become effective April 16, 2026, subject to the grandfathering period for certain of the loan origination provisions and certain Annex IV disclosure requirements which will become effective a year later (see “—Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive” for further detail).”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, certain investors have implemented or may implement restrictions against investing in certain types of asset classes, such as fossil fuels, which would affect our ability to raise new funds focused on those asset classes.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“New and evolving and sometimes conflicting sustainability/ESG regulations and disclosure expectations could increase our compliance costs and expose us to enforcement, litigation or fundraising constraints. Certain regulations related to ESG that are applicable to us, our funds and their portfolio companies could adversely affect our business.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The European Commission’s “action plan on financing sustainable growth” (“Action Plan”) is designed to, among other things, define and reorient investment toward more sustainable economic activities. The Action Plan contemplates, among other things: establishing EU labels for green financial products; clarifying asset managers’ and institutional investors’ duties regarding ESG in their investment decision-making processes; increasing disclosure requirements in the financial services sector around ESG and increasing the transparency of companies on their ESG policies and related processes and management systems; and introducing a ‘green supporting factor’ in the EU prudential rules for banks and insurance companies to incorporate climate risks into banks’ and insurance companies’ risk management policies.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The Taxonomy Regulation is a classification system that establishes a list of environmentally sustainable economic activities and sets out four overarching conditions that an economic activity has to meet in order to qualify as environmentally sustainable. The Taxonomy Regulation, amongst other things, introduces mandatory disclosure and reporting requirements and supplements the framework set out in the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (“SFDR”), which requires certain disclosures at both firm and fund level.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“There is a risk that a significant reorientation in the market following the implementation of these regulations and further measures could be adverse to our funds’ portfolio companies if they are perceived to be less valuable as a consequence of, among other things, their carbon footprint or allegations or evidence of “greenwashing” (i.e., the holding out of a product as having green or sustainable characteristics where this is not, in fact, the case). There is also a risk that market expectations in relation to SFDR categorization of financial products could adversely affect our ability to raise capital, especially from EEA investors.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In November 2025, the European Commission published a 61 Table of Contents draft legislative proposal to revise SFDR to introduce, among others, new categories for sustainability-related financial products with related criteria that require to be met for each category. Ares cannot guarantee that its current approach will meet future regulatory requirements, reporting frameworks or best practices, increasing the risk of related enforcement.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In the U.K., the FCA has introduced a regulatory framework focused on implementing the recommendations of the Financial Stability Board’s TCFD and, in particular, by introducing mandatory TCFD-aligned disclosure requirements for certain FCA authorized firms. Pursuant to these rules, AML and AMUKL have to disclose certain climate-related financial information in line with the four overarching pillars of the TCFD recommendations (Governance, Strategy, Risk Management, Metrics & Targets) annually on a mandatory basis, and have done so since 2024.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Australia’s securities regulator confirmed that “greenwashing” has been an enforcement priority in recent years and issued information on its surveillance activities in respect of “greenwashing” in 2024. In 2025, Australia’s climate-related financial disclosure regime under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) came into effect, with reporting requirements applying to the largest entities first and being phased in over time to capture a broader group of entities.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Inflation has impacted and may in the future adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition of our funds and their portfolio companies. Certain of our funds and their portfolio companies are in industries that have been impacted by inflation. Although U.S. inflation rates have fluctuated in recent periods, they remain well above the historic levels over the past several decades. Ongoing inflationary pressures have increased the costs of labor, energy and raw materials and have adversely affected consumer spending, economic growth and our funds’ portfolio companies’ operations.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Economic events affecting the economy or market in general, such as volatility in the financial markets related to changes in markets, inflation, changes in interest rates or global or national events that are beyond our control, could cause investors to request redemption of an increased number of shares pursuant to the share redemption programs of our perpetual wealth vehicles, potentially in excess of established limits.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“These investments are subject to the potential for deterioration of market fundamentals and the risk of adverse changes in local market and economic conditions, which may include changes in supply of and demand for liquid credit, alternative credit and direct lending.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The operations and cash flow of infrastructure investments are also more sensitive to inflation and, in certain cases, commodity price risk.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Further, geopolitical and domestic political uncertainty, unexpected shifts in monetary and fiscal policy, changes in interest rates, depressed labor force participation, the risk of labor shortages in the face of more restrictive immigration policies, supply chain pressures and other general economic trends may impact the performance of our portfolio companies in many industries and geographies.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, the performance of our investment funds and our portfolio companies may be adversely affected by increases in inflationary pressures such as employee wage growth or rising input costs, which could compress profit margins, particularly at our portfolio companies that are unable to effectively increase prices in response.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Certain of our investments may be subject to review and approval by CFIUS or any non-U.S. equivalents thereof, which may have outsized impacts on transaction certainty, timing, feasibility and cost, and may prevent us from maintaining or pursuing investment opportunities that we otherwise would have maintained or pursued. CFIUS or any non-U.S. equivalents thereof may seek to impose limitations, conditions or restrictions on or prohibit one or more of our investments, which may adversely affect the ability of our funds to execute on their investment strategy with respect to such transaction as well as limit our flexibility in structuring or financing certain transactions.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The final rule prohibits or imposes notification requirements on certain outbound investments involving semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies and artificial intelligence by U.S. persons into certain entities with a nexus to China. These restrictions on U.S. outbound investments could limit the universe of prospective investments available to us, make it more difficult to deploy capital or identify buyers for investments, and/or adversely affect the governance and operations of our investments and thus 69 Table of Contents our overall performance.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Regulatory and Compliance Matters Our businesses, as well as the financial services industry, generally are subject to extensive regulation, including periodic examinations and potential investigations by governmental agencies and self-regulatory organizations or exchanges in the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions in which we operate relating to, among other things, the management of our funds, antitrust laws, foreign investment review regimes, anti-money laundering laws, anti-bribery laws relating to foreign officials, tax laws and data privacy laws with respect to client and other information.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The final rule prohibits or imposes notification requirements on certain outbound investments involving semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies and artificial intelligence by U.S. persons into certain entities with a nexus to China. These restrictions on U.S. outbound investments could limit the universe of prospective investments available to us, make it more difficult to deploy capital or identify buyers for investments, and/or adversely affect the governance and operations of our investments and thus 69 Table of Contents our overall performance.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Changes in trade policies, including the imposition of new tariffs or increases in existing tariffs between the U.S., Mexico, Canada, China or other countries, or reactionary measures in response thereto, including retaliatory tariffs, legal challenges, or currency manipulation, could adversely affect the market conditions in which we operate. These factors may affect the level and volatility of credit and securities prices and the liquidity and value of fund investments, and we, our funds and our funds’ portfolio companies may not be able to successfully manage our exposure to these conditions.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, we may face an increased risk of such misconduct to the extent our investment in foreign markets, particularly emerging markets, increase. Such markets may not have established laws and regulations that are as stringent as in more developed nations, or existing laws and regulations may not be consistently enforced.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Business Overview Ares is a leading global alternative investment manager with $622.5 billion of assets under management and over 4,250 employees in over 55 offices in more than 25 countries.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our real estate activities are managed by equity and debt teams in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific (“APAC”), supported by our vertically-integrated operating platforms.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Real Estate: Our real estate strategy encompasses equity and debt across core, value-add and opportunistic investments in predominantly the Americas, Europe and APAC. We provide investors access to our real estate investment capabilities through private commingled vehicles, SMAs, publicly-traded funds and perpetual wealth vehicles.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our vertically-integrated operating teams are strategically located across the Americas, Europe and APAC in our key target markets, to invest in core, value-add, and development opportunities that are accretive to our portfolios and drive returns for our investors.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“APAC Private Equity: Our APAC private equity team of over 35 investment professionals as of December 31, 2025 focuses on primarily pursuing structured growth equity investments in control, joint control and minority ownership formats. We seek to invest in high-quality middle market companies in our core industries, namely consumer, healthcare and services, that give us exposure to rising consumer and business activity in the APAC region.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“As of December 31, 2025, our total AUM was divided by channel, and further our institutional direct AUM by client type and geographic origin as follows ($ in billions): Institutional Direct Perpetual Wealth Vehicles Publicly-Traded Vehicles Pension Insurance Bank Americas APAC Europe Institutional Intermediaries Sovereign Wealth Fund Investment Manager High Net Worth and Private Bank Middle East & Africa Other The following chart presents the AUM of investors committed to more than one of our funds as of December 31, 2025 compared to December 31, 2020 ($ in billions): We believe that the AUM of multi-fund investors demonstrates our investors’ satisfaction with our performance, disciplined management of their capital and diverse product offering.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“These include operating subsidiaries of Ares Management Asia (Holdings) Limited, which are subject to regulation by various regulatory authorities, including the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong and Monetary Authority of Singapore, as well as the expansion of our investment activities in Japan, Brazil, Vietnam and Australia in connection with recent strategic acquisitions, which are subject to the applicable regulatory authorities and regimes.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Many of our funds invest a portion of their assets in the equity, debt, loans or other securities of issuers located outside the U.S., including Europe and APAC, while certain of our funds invest substantially all of their assets in these types of securities, and we expect that international investments will increase as a proportion of certain of our funds’ portfolios in the future.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Investments in emerging markets are subject to greater risks than those in more developed markets. We have invested and expect to continue to invest in businesses in emerging markets. Investing in emerging markets exposes us to heightened risks compared to developed economies, including political, social, and economic instability.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, certain vendors and third-party service providers are vulnerable to disruption from severe weather events, natural disasters, public health crises, cybersecurity incidents or similar services and other disruptions, and may be subject to financial distress, regulatory sanctions, labor shortages, system failures or other operational issues. Operational risks could increase as third-party service providers increasingly offer mobile and cloud-based software services rather than software services that can be operated within our own data centers, as certain aspects of the security of such technologies may be complex, unpredictable or beyond our control, and any failure by mobile technology or cloud service providers to adequately safeguard their systems and prevent cyber-attacks could disrupt our operations and result in misappropriation, corruption or loss of confidential, proprietary or personal information.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“•The operation of infrastructure assets is exposed to potential unplanned interruptions caused by significant catastrophic or force majeure events, including cyber-attacks. These risks could, among other effects, adversely impact the cash flows available from investments in infrastructure assets, cause personal injury or loss of life, damage property, or instigate disruptions of service.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Further, we are dependent on third-party service providers for hosting hardware, software and data processing systems that we do not control. We also rely on third-party service providers for certain aspects of our businesses, including for certain information systems, technology and administration of our funds and compliance matters. While we perform risk assessments on our third-party providers, our reliance on them and their potential reliance on other third-party service providers removes certain cybersecurity functions from outside of our immediate control, and cyber-attacks on our third-party service providers could adversely affect us, our business and our reputation.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our funds may invest in strategic assets having a national or regional profile or in infrastructure assets, the nature of which could expose them to a greater risk of being subject to a terrorist attack or cyber-attack than other assets or businesses. Such an event may have material adverse consequences on our investment or assets of the same type or may require applicable portfolio companies to increase preventative security measures or expand insurance coverage.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Table of Contents In addition, the EU Digital Operational Resilience Act (“DORA”), which became applicable in January 2025, imposes requirements on a wide range of EU financial entities (including certain alternative investment fund managers) relating to information and communications technology (“ICT”) risk management, incident reporting, operational resilience testing and oversight of third-party ICT service providers. Compliance with DORA may require enhancements to our technology, risk management and vendor oversight practices.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“We are also highly dependent upon the technology platforms within which our data is stored and analyzed, and any disruption in the services provided by such platforms, whether temporary or permanent, could have a material adverse effect on our ability to effectively continue to operate our business without interruption.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Further, we are dependent on third-party service providers for hosting hardware, software and data processing systems that we do not control. We also rely on third-party service providers for certain aspects of our businesses, including for certain information systems, technology and administration of our funds and compliance matters. While we perform risk assessments on our third-party providers, our reliance on them and their potential reliance on other third-party service providers removes certain cybersecurity functions from outside of our immediate control, and cyber-attacks on our third-party service providers could adversely affect us, our business and our reputation.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, cybersecurity is a priority for regulators in the U.S. and around the world. The SEC has adopted cybersecurity disclosure rules for public companies and has adopted amendments to Regulation S-P that require, among other things, written incident response programs, customer notification in certain circumstances and enhanced oversight of service providers. In June 2025, the SEC formally withdrew certain pending proposed rules relating to cybersecurity risk management for investment advisers and certain funds; however, regulators continue to focus on cybersecurity through examinations, 93 Table of Contents enforcement activity and guidance, and future rulemaking could re-emerge.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“We are also highly dependent upon the technology platforms within which our data is stored and analyzed, and any disruption in the services provided by such platforms, whether temporary or permanent, could have a material adverse effect on our ability to effectively continue to operate our business without interruption.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“We face operational risk from errors made in the execution, confirmation or settlement of transactions. We also face operational risk from transactions and key data not being properly recorded, evaluated or accounted for in our funds. In particular, our Credit Group, and to a lesser extent our Private Equity Group, are highly dependent on our ability to process and evaluate, on a daily basis, transactions across markets and geographies in a time-sensitive, efficient and accurate manner. Consequently, we rely heavily on our financial, accounting and other data processing systems.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, we operate in a business that is highly dependent on information systems and technology. Our information systems and technology may not continue to be able to accommodate our growth, particularly our growth internationally, and the cost of maintaining our information systems and technology may increase from its current level, including due to existing and anticipated regulations. Such a failure to accommodate growth, or an increase in costs related to our information systems and technology, could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“We also rely on a concentrated set of vendors and third-party service providers for certain aspects of our businesses, including for certain information systems, technology and administration of our funds and compliance matters, such as accounting, investor services, investment operations, banking, software development and maintenance and legal and regulatory compliance. Our ability to conduct our business may be adversely affected if one or more key vendors or third-party service providers fails to meet our expectations or if we otherwise become unable to procure their services on commercially reasonable terms.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“HM Treasury and the FCA are progressing a separate reform of the U.K’s alternative investment fund manager regime and in April 2025, each respectively published a consultation on a new U.K.-specific framework and a Call for Input. The proposed changes include (i) replacing the existing “full-scope” and “sub-threshold” AIFM categories with a more flexible tiering based on an AIFM’s size, investment base and investment activities; (ii) abolishing the “small registered AIF” category (except in respect of managers of social enterprise funds and registered venture capital funds) and requiring all AIFMs to become FCA-authorized; and (iii) implementing a streamlined regime for investment trust and REIT managers.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our real estate activities are managed by equity and debt teams in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific (“APAC”), supported by our vertically-integrated operating platforms.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In the U.K., the U.K. Regulated Entities are subject to regulation by the FCA.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“The EU has also adopted the EU Artificial Intelligence Act, which applies on a phased basis beginning in 2025 and is intended to regulate certain artificial intelligence systems based on their level of risk. Depending on our and our portfolio companies’ use of artificial intelligence technologies, we may be required to implement additional governance, risk management, documentation and compliance measures to comply with the EU Artificial Intelligence Act.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Finally, governments and regulators in the U.S. and abroad have proposed, adopted or are considering laws, regulations and guidance governing the development, deployment and use of artificial intelligence systems, including requirements relating to transparency, accountability, data governance, risk management, human oversight, cybersecurity, intellectual property and recordkeeping. For example, the European Union has adopted the EU Artificial Intelligence Act, which applies on a phased basis that began in 2025 and a numbers of U.S. states have enacted general artificial intelligence laws.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In recent periods, geopolitical tensions, including between the U.S. and China, have escalated. Further escalation of such tensions and the related imposition of sanctions or other trade barriers may negatively impact the rate of global growth, particularly in China, where growth has slowed.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Relatedly, we, our funds and their portfolio companies risk damage to our brands and reputations, if we or they do not or are perceived to not act responsibly in a number of areas, including, but not limited to human rights, climate change and environmental stewardship, support for local communities, corporate governance and transparency, or consideration of ESG factors in our investment processes.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Investors in certain of our funds, including our open-ended funds and perpetual wealth vehicles may generally redeem their investments on a periodic basis subject to the expiration of a specified period of time during which capital may not be withdrawn. As we continue to expand the distribution of our products through the retail and private wealth channels (including through semi-liquid and perpetual structures), the number and composition of investors in such vehicles may change and we may experience more frequent or larger redemption requests, particularly during periods of market volatility or declining performance.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“In addition, pursuing investment opportunities outside the U.S. presents challenges not faced by U.S. investments, such as different legal and tax regimes and currency fluctuations, which require additional resources to address. To accommodate the needs of global investors and strategies we must structure investment products in a manner that addresses tax, regulatory and legislative provisions in different, and sometimes multiple, jurisdictions.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“These investments are subject to the potential for deterioration of real estate fundamentals and the risk of adverse changes in local market and economic conditions, which may include changes in supply of and demand for competing properties in an area, fluctuating occupancy rates and changes in demand for commercial office properties (including as a result of an increased prevalence of remote work).”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Currency fluctuations in particular can have a substantial effect on our cash flow and financial condition. The success of any hedging or other derivative transactions generally will depend on our ability to correctly predict market or foreign exchange changes, the degree of correlation between price movements of a derivative instrument and the position being hedged, the creditworthiness of the counterparty and other factors.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Business Overview Ares is a leading global alternative investment manager with $622.5 billion of assets under management and over 4,250 employees in over 55 offices in more than 25 countries.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Direct Lending: Our U.S. direct lending team is comprised of over 225 investment professionals that cover more than 520 financial sponsors and provide a wide range of financing solutions to middle market companies that typically range from $10 million to over $500 million in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”). As of December 31, 2025, our U.S. direct lending team and its affiliates managed $189.6 billion of AUM in approximately 90 funds and investment vehicles.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Real Estate: Our real estate strategy encompasses equity and debt across core, value-add and opportunistic investments in predominantly the Americas, Europe and APAC. We provide investors access to our real estate investment capabilities through private commingled vehicles, SMAs, publicly-traded funds and perpetual wealth vehicles.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our vertically-integrated operating teams are strategically located across the Americas, Europe and APAC in our key target markets, to invest in core, value-add, and development opportunities that are accretive to our portfolios and drive returns for our investors.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Corporate Private Equity: Our team consists of over 45 investment professionals based primarily in Los Angeles and London. Our private equity funds are leaders in the Americas and European middle market, where they focus on growth buyout transactions.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“Our U.S. and European direct lending strategies rank among the largest in their respective markets, supported by investment committee members who average decades of experience.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“As of December 31, 2025, our total AUM was divided by channel, and further our institutional direct AUM by client type and geographic origin as follows ($ in billions): Institutional Direct Perpetual Wealth Vehicles Publicly-Traded Vehicles Pension Insurance Bank Americas APAC Europe Institutional Intermediaries Sovereign Wealth Fund Investment Manager High Net Worth and Private Bank Middle East & Africa Other The following chart presents the AUM of investors committed to more than one of our funds as of December 31, 2025 compared to December 31, 2020 ($ in billions): We believe that the AUM of multi-fund investors demonstrates our investors’ satisfaction with our performance, disciplined management of their capital and diverse product offering.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself

“These include operating subsidiaries of Ares Management Asia (Holdings) Limited, which are subject to regulation by various regulatory authorities, including the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong and Monetary Authority of Singapore, as well as the expansion of our investment activities in Japan, Brazil, Vietnam and Australia in connection with recent strategic acquisitions, which are subject to the applicable regulatory authorities and regimes.”

Annual report 2025A · The company itself