--- title: "Ares raises $3.6 billion from Coller EQT to buy its own 2018 loan book; old investors got 150% back" description: "Ares sold its 2018-vintage loan book into a continuation fund led by Coller EQT the same week the EU cleared its data-center push, yet its stock is down 17.5% this year and its own insiders are selling." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Deals" published: 2026-11-13T19:13:53.595Z modified: 2026-11-13T19:13:53.595Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/ares-raises-3-6-billion-from-coller-eqt-to-buy-its-own-2018-loan-book-old-investors-got-150-back language: en keywords: "Ares Management, Private Credit, Secondaries, Data Centers, Deals" --- # Ares raises $3.6 billion from Coller EQT to buy its own 2018 loan book; old investors got 150% back > Ares sold its 2018-vintage loan book into a continuation fund led by Coller EQT the same week the EU cleared its data-center push, yet its stock is down 17.5% this year and its own insiders are selling. [Ares Management](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/ares-management) has closed the biggest deal of its kind in the secondary credit market. On November 12, Bloomberg reported the Los Angeles asset manager [collected €3.3 billion ($3.6 billion) for a credit secondaries continuation fund, its largest](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-11-12/ares-raises-3-6-billion-in-its-biggest-credit-continuation-fund), with secondaries specialist Coller EQT as lead investor and [Evercore](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/evercore) advising [1]. A continuation fund is a vehicle set up to buy assets from a manager's earlier fund, so new investors take the old book and the old investors get their money out. The fund holds 24 loans from Ares's 2018-vintage European direct lending fund, and investors in that predecessor vehicle, Ares Capital Europe Fund IV, received about 150% of their initial investment [2]. Whether that return beat Ares's own carrying marks on the assets cannot be told from the sources; the deal prices are not public. ## The same week, Ares was buying data centers While Coller EQT took the loan book off Ares's balance sheet, the [European Commission cleared Ares's consortium acquisition of Prime Data Centers](https://poisar.com/news/117247769) on November 9, and Ares sold its Vietnam logistics platform to CTP for about $500 million the same day [3][4]. The pattern is deliberate: recycle old credit, buy digital infrastructure. ## Ares will finance the buildings, not the chips The buildings-not-chips call is not new. On [the November 10 analyst call](https://gmteight.com/flash/detail/1583066), chief executive Michael Arougheti said Ares will not finance GPUs, because the value decay on chips cannot be diligenced, but "the data center project due diligence is simpler, and the relative returns are very attractive" [5]. The firm sizes AI capex demand at roughly $5 trillion, about $2 trillion for facilities and power, $3 trillion for chips [5]. As reported here on November 2 in "[Ares Management sizes AI spending near $5 trillion and lends on the buildings, not the $3 trillion of chips](https://theinference.org/article/ares-management-sizes-ai-spending-near-5-trillion-and-lends-on-the-buildings-not-the-3-trillion-of-chips)," that sizing and the choice of buildings were the story then; what is new this week is the fund close, the EU clearance, the CTP sale and the analyst split below [5]. ## Record inflows could not stop a 70.5% profit drop Record money keeps arriving: $31 billion of third-quarter inflows, assets under management up 16% to $690.6 billion, fee-related earnings up 11% [6]. But quarterly net income fell 70.5% year over year in Q3, to $85 million [7], and insiders sold about $91.5 million of stock over 12 months against $1.3 million bought [2]. *Chart: **Revenue is up 36% since late 2023 while quarterly net income fell to $85 million** Line chart of Ares Management quarterly revenue and net income from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the third quarter of 2026* *Quarterly revenue and net income in US dollars, Q4 2023 to Q3 2026. Net income fell 70.5% year over year in Q3 2026. Source: Ares Management quarterly figures from its SEC filings [7]. [7]* ## Two targets $28 apart, and a fourth quarter that decides Analysts cannot even agree on direction: Keefe Bruyette & Woods cut its target to $119 from $130 on November 10; [Jefferies](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/jefferies) raised its target to $147 from $132 on November 12 [2][3]. The spread between those two targets, $28, is the whole debate: is a loan book a specialist just bought plus a $2 trillion infrastructure lane worth a down year, or do insider selling and a falling quarter tell the truth first [2][3]? *Chart: **Analysts split $28 apart on Ares after its $3.6 billion secondaries close** Column chart of Keefe Bruyette & Woods' $119 price target for Ares, the $133.29 close on November 12 and Jefferies' $147 target* *US dollars per share. Targets from Keefe Bruyette & Woods (November 10) and Jefferies (November 12); close of $133.29 on November 12, 2026. Sources: GuruFocus; MarketScreener [2][3]. [2][3]* Watch the next read: how much of the $173.8 billion in uninvested capital actually deploys in the seasonally strong fourth quarter [6]. That is when the buildings thesis either gets paid or does not. ## Takeaway Ares just closed the biggest credit secondaries fund of its kind, with old investors getting about 150% back, and its stock is still down 17.5% this year while analysts sit $28 apart and insiders sell. ## Sources 1. [Bloomberg, Ares Raises $3.6 Billion in Its Biggest Credit Continuation Fund, 12 November 2026](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-11-12/ares-raises-3-6-billion-in-its-biggest-credit-continuation-fund) 2. [GuruFocus, Ares Management Raises €3.3 Billion for Credit Secondaries Fund Amid Dividend Sustainability Debate, 12 November 2026](https://www.gurufocus.com/news/9195317/ares-management-ares-raises-33-billion-for-credit-secondaries-fund-amid-dividend-sustainability-debate) 3. [MarketScreener, Jefferies Adjusts Price Target on Ares Management to $147 From $132, 12 November 2026](https://www.marketscreener.com/news/jefferies-adjusts-price-target-on-ares-management-to-147-from-132-ce785ed8dd88f122) 4. [Poisar, European Commission Approves Acquisition of Prime Data Centers by Ares Management and Partners, 9 November 2026](https://poisar.com/news/117247769) 5. [GMT Eight, Ares CEO: Avoiding AI chip financing due to business complexity, 11 November 2026](https://gmteight.com/flash/detail/1583066) 6. [Reuters, Ares heads for record fundraising year on private credit, real assets strength, 29 October 2026](https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/ares-raises-31-billion-private-credit-real-assets-fundraising-strength-2026-10-29/) 7. [Ares Management, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 13 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001176948) --- Ares raises $3.6 billion from Coller EQT to buy its own 2018 loan book; old investors got 150% back — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/ares-raises-3-6-billion-from-coller-eqt-to-buy-its-own-2018-loan-book-old-investors-got-150-back