Updated version 4 - As the redemption pressure on private credit eases, redemption requests for Ares funds have decreased.

Analyst comments added in the 6th paragraph

Reuters, September 24 - A regulatory filing submitted on Thursday showed that redemption requests for the flagship private credit fund of Ares Management, ARES.N, slightly eased during the third quarter redemption window, reflecting a general slowdown in redemption demand across the industry.

Investors in Ares Strategic Income Fund (ASIF), which manages $22.7 billion, submitted redemption requests for 13.1% of the fund's shares in the third quarter, down from 14.4% in the previous quarter. The fund caps redemptions at 5% of total shares, in line with standard thresholds for such funds.

In recent months, amid concerns over lending standards and doubts about whether software companies that have borrowed heavily from direct lenders can withstand the impact of artificial intelligence, affluent individual investors have been pulling money out of unlisted private credit funds.

However, as asset managers gradually work through the backlog of redemption requests and investor sentiment recovers from recent turbulence, the redemption pressure facing major unlisted private credit funds is showing signs of relief.

Earlier this month, BlackRock (link) (BLK.N) and Apollo (link) (APO.N) also reported a decrease in redemption requests for their private credit funds.

"Most reporting funds are seeing a slowdown in redemption demand, but in several of the largest funds, requests remain backlogged and persistent. It's too soon to declare that the market as a whole is past the trough, but the trend is encouraging," said Kevin Gannon, Chairman and CEO of Stanger, a firm tracking so-called alternative assets.

The Ares fund stated that much of the redemption pressure stems from investors repeatedly submitting requests, and added that new net redemption requests amounted to 3% of net asset value.

This year, major private credit funds have all enforced the routine 5% redemption cap, and since investors often resubmit unfulfilled requests in subsequent redemption windows, the overall volume of redemptions has remained high.

"An investor who first submitted a redemption request in the first quarter of 2026 and continued to resubmit the unfulfilled portion in the second and third quarters is estimated to have received back nearly 80% of their original requested funds," ASIF said.

For these investors, the fund expects to have substantially satisfied outstanding redemption requests by the end of the year, provided that redemption volumes remain consistent with the third quarter.

Since inception, ASIF Class I shares have generated an annualized total return of 9.97%, 161 basis points higher than the broad syndicated loan market.

Related data on the Blue Owl OWL.N fund is expected to be released in the coming weeks.

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