Ares Management issued liabilities on a new roughly $400 million collateralized loan obligation two weeks ago and is in the process of closing its deal. David Sachs, official at Ares, confirmed issuance of the debt and said a favorable arbitrage in the market triggered the manager's timing on the deal. Sachs said Goldman Sachs is lead underwriter on the deal. Co-leads on the vehicle include J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank, and Salomon Smith Barney. He referred all other questions to Andrew Phelps, associate at the CDO syndications desk of Goldman Sachs, who did not return calls.
The vehicle, Ares V, a traditional cash flow arbitrage deal, is reportedly comprised of leveraged loans and market sources said that pricing on the Moody's Investors Service Aaa-rated notes was roughly LIBOR plus 43 basis points and LIBOR plus 220 basis points for Baa2 notes.