American asset management firm Ares is one of three US-based organisations to have reportedly offered to help finance a Manchester United takeover for potential bidders.
New York-headquartered hedge fund Elliot and Oaktree Capital from Los Angeles are the others to have proposed making funding available to parties interested in United, according to various reports. Neither Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani nor INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe seem to be seeking external financing at this stage of the process.
A fortnight after the buyout financier's apparent interest in becoming involved in a potential takeover came to light, a partner at Ares, Mark Affolter, was coy when asked to put a timeline on when any sale could be done by. But who are Ares? We profile the California-based company below:
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What do they do?
Ares Management describes itself on its website as a market-leading global alternative investment manager. They offer their clients investment solutions in credit, private equity, real estate and infrastructure assets, as well as providing flexible capital to support businesses.
Are they already involved in football?
Ares has a dedicated sports fund that has invested in Spanish giants Atletico Madrid and David Beckham's Inter Miami. They also assisted in financing the acquisition of the French club Lyon late last year. The fund was set up to invest in both clubs and leagues around the world. Ares raised $3.7 billion to enable those ambitions recently.
What do they know about English football?
Well, they have reportedly backed three separate bids to buy two separate Premier League clubs. In 2020, trade publication Private Equity International reported that Ares was backing Kapital Football Group before the investor tried and ultimately failed to take over Southampton. Then last year they were said to be financing two parties involved in the process to purchase Chelsea. Todd Boehly's consortium, backed by Clearlake Capital, instead won that bidding war.
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