Ares Is Seeking $1 Billion for Energy Fund After Stumble

(Bloomberg) -- Ares Management LLC is preparing to raise an energy and infrastructure investment fund with a $1 billion target, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The investment firm co-founded by Chief Executive Officer Michael Arougheti has held preliminary talks with investors about raising Ares Energy Investors Fund VI, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. Ares closed EIF V last August with about $800 million, having originally targeted $3 billion for the effort when it began fundraising in 2015, according to SEC filings.

Ares could still decide not to create the fund or change the target amount, the people said.

An Ares representative didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Los Angeles-based Ares completed its acquisition of Energy Investor Funds in January 2015 in what Arougheti described as an “accretive, strategically valuable.” deal that would allow the firm to offer a wider range of products to backers. Ares subsequently attempted to merge with fellow energy investor Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, a move it later abandoned.

Ares’s EIF team invests in energy assets including power generation, transmission facilities and midstream assets, according to its website. The energy unit, which is led by co-heads Herbert Magid and Andrew E. Schroeder, owns stakes in Conti Solar LLC and Salt Creek Midstream LLC.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kiel Porter in New York at kporter17@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Fournier at efournier5@bloomberg.net, Michael Hytha

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