Ares Management to Acquire Landmark Partners for $1.08B

DJ Ares Management to Acquire Landmark Partners for $1.08B

By Dave Sebastian

Ares Management Corp. said it has struck an agreement with a BrightSphere Investment Group Inc. subsidiary and Landmark Investment Holdings LP to buy Landmark Partners LLC, an investor that acquires secondary private fund ownership stakes, for $1.08 billion.

The purchase price includes about $787 million in cash and roughly $293 million in Ares Operating Group units, Ares said Wednesday. Founded in 1989, Landmark manages private equity, real estate and infrastructure secondaries funds with $18.7 billion in assets under management as of the end of 2020, Ares said.

"We believe secondary investments are only increasing in their appeal to a growing group of investors and we are excited to include these strategies in our comprehensive alternatives offering," Ares Chief Executive and President Michael Arougheti said.

BrightSphere said that it is selling its 60% ownership interest in Landmark for $690 million to Ares, and that Ares is buying a 40% ownership interest in Landmark held by the Landmark management team for $390 million.

Ares has also agreed to buy BrightSphere's co-investments in Landmark funds, which had a book value of about $34 million as of the end of last year, BrightSphere said. BrightSphere said it expects after-tax proceeds of about $630 million from the transaction.

The companies said they expect the transaction to close in the second quarter.

Write to Dave Sebastian at dave.sebastian@wsj.com.