Ares Management Corp., a global investment management company based in Century City, announced earlier this month that it had raised $3.7 billion of dedicated capital focused on investing in sports leagues, sports teams and sports-related franchises, as well as media and entertainment companies. Ares Sports, Media and Entertainment Finance, the company’s inaugural fund focused on the sector, includes total equity commitments of nearly $2.2 billion. The fund was well over its initial target of $1.5 billion.
“The sports, media and entertainment markets are demonstrating strong growth driven by rising media rights values and attractive fundamentals,” Jim Miller, partner and co-head of U.S. direct lending at Ares, said in a statement. “This demand along with our proprietary sourcing has enabled our Fund to make investments in some of the world’s most iconic franchises and we continue to see a significant opportunity to provide flexible solutions to address the supply-demand imbalance within the sector.”
Ares uses a private capital strategy that invests in both debt and equity, including senior debt, junior debt, preferred equity and minority equity. So far, SME has committed capital to 19 portfolio companies, which represents approximately $1 billion of opportunities across the sports, media and entertainment landscape, including debt and/or equity investments in Atlético de Madrid, the San Diego Padres, McLaren Racing and Inter Miami CF.
“Ares brings decades of experience in providing tailored financings that fill funding gaps left behind by traditional capital providers,” Kort Schnabel, partner and co-head of U.S. direct lending at Ares, said in a statement. “With our collaborative approach and experience investing across a variety of capital structures, we believe we can drive value and generate high quality, risk-adjusted investment performance for our investors.”
