The new entity has a team of more than 90 fundraising and client service professionals. A key theme that the parent firm mentioned was the so-called "democratization" of alternatives. A number of platforms and channels have taken shape in recent years.

Ares Management Corporation, a New York-listed firm, has formed Ares Wealth Management Solutions, helping to drive access to alternative asset classes, it announced yesterday.

WMS will oversee the product development, distribution, marketing and client management activities across Ares’ investment offerings in the global wealth management channel. It has a team of more than 90 fundraising and client service professionals.

Ares’ global head of wealth management is Raj Dhanda. He joined the firm this year and was previously chief executive at Black Creek Group, which he joined in 2016.  Before this, Dhanda spent 26 years at Morgan Stanley, where he served in a variety of leadership roles, including leading divisions of its institutional and wealth management platforms.

In addition to Dhanda, Christina Adamson, Moshe Bajnon, Casey Galligan and Jeff Taylor have been appointed to senior leadership positions at WMS, Ares said in a statement. 

“Ares has been at the forefront of supporting the ‘democratization of alternatives’ and we have made significant investments across our platform through the years to onboard a range of investor types and sizes,” Michael Arougheti, Ares CEO, said. “We have made meaningful progress and are welcoming a rapidly growing number of individual investors into our strategies, but we are only scratching the surface of the opportunity.”

The rollout of the WMS operation comes at a time when access to alternative investments such as private credit, equity, venture capital, forms of infrastructure and real estate, is a hot topic. Firms operating in the space of hooking up distributors of investments, intermediaries and end-clients are taking shape. Within this area are firms such as iCapital Network, a New York-based group that has been forging alliances with a group of banks and wealth managers, and expanding into Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world. Another example is CAIS, a US-based investment platform providing access to (and education on) alternative funds and products. CAIS has offices in New York, Los Angeles and Austin. Private funds platform Moonfare is another example of businesses tapping into the need for access.

As of June 30, 2021, including the acquisition of Black Creek Group which closed July 1, Ares Management Corporation's global platform had approximately $262 billion of assets under management. It employs about 2,000 employees in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.