Goodwin client Ares Management Corporation (NYSE: ARES) was awarded the 2024 PERE North American Capital Raise of the Year for the formation of Ares U.S. Real Estate Opportunity Fund IV, L.P. (“AREOF IV”), and the 2024 PERE European Capital Raise of the Year for the formation of Ares European Real Estate Fund VI SCSp (“AEREF VI”). Goodwin’s Real Estate Private Funds teams, based in New York and London, advised Ares on both fundraisings, and the firm was named 2024 Law Firm of the Year for Real Estate Fund Formation in Europe.
AREOF IV raised over $3.3 billion to invest in opportunistic real estate in the U.S. through equity commitments to AREOF IV and related transaction vehicles. This marks the largest Ares Real Estate closed-end fundraise to date and is a significant increase from the $2.2 billion of commitments raised for the predecessor fund and related transaction vehicles. Consistent with its predecessors, AREOF IV focuses on acquiring real estate assets out of distressed ownership structures and special situations, enhancing and repositioning undermanaged assets, and pursuing risk-mitigated development and redevelopment in desirable submarkets.
AEREF VI raised over €2.24 billion to invest in opportunistic real estate in Europe through equity commitments to AEREF VI and related transaction vehicles. AEREF VI represents the largest vehicle to date in Ares’ Europe-focused opportunistic fund series and is the largest real estate fund to have closed in 2024 which is focused exclusively on Europe. AEREF VI prioritises special situations, broken capital structures, opportunities to resolve funding gaps and acquisitions of mispriced assets from distressed sellers.
The successful fundraisings of both AREOF IV and AEREF VI position Ares with over $5.5 billion of aggregate opportunistic capital aimed to capitalize on attractive new investment opportunities in the U.S. and Europe.
Ares Management Corporation is a leading global alternative investment manager offering clients complementary primary and secondary investment solutions across the credit, real estate, private equity and infrastructure asset classes. As of December 31, 2024, Ares Management Corporation's global platform had over $484 billion of assets under management with more than 2,950 employees operating across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.
The Goodwin team was led by Sean Gruver, Niall Dickson, Charmaine Tam, Vineeta Nangia, Brooke Lang, Brittany Morgan, Terri Houston, Chloe Capone, Elisabeth Teixeira de Mattos, Niresh Sri Rajkumar, Lucy Dempsey, Brian Yuen, Kara Kitchell, Spencer Teplitz, Chase Perlman, Mindy Liu and Benjamin Deutsch and included David Patton, Laura Charkin, Sumiyya Ghauri and Matthew Birchall (Tax), Bibek Pandey (ERISA), Matthew Stayman, Owen Remeika and Laura Wood (Fund Finance), and Gregory Larkin, Glynn Barwick and Daniel Ji (Regulatory).