Los Angeles-based Ares Management LLC had been widely expected to be the next among major private equity firms to go public. Ares, however, has no plans to pull the trigger just yet.
Reuters, citing sources close to Ares, said that major Wall Street banks have been calling on the firm to discuss the merits of an initial public offering. The private equity firm currently has $70 billion in assets under management.
The success of the listing by private equity heavyweight Carlyle Group LP last year, and a rally in the shares of alternative asset managers this year, provide an attractive backdrop, the report said.
Ares thinks it is well-positioned to go public. It does not, though, see the need for an IPO in the near future, Reuters sources said. That view would likely change if the investment firm foresaw a big acquisition opportunity. No such deal is currently planned, they added.
Banks that have pitched Ares on the idea of the IPO include JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, the report said.
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