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Peer Fund / Dealmaker·Specialty Finance

Kipp deVeer

Co-President & Former Head of Credit Group at Ares Management Corporation

New York, NY, USA

KD
LinkedIn
Why they matter

Co-President of Ares Management and the architect of its dominant credit franchise — one of the best-connected voices in private credit and BDC deal flow.

Background

R. Kipp deVeer is a Director, Partner, and Co-President of Ares Management Corporation, a role he has held since February 2025 alongside Blair Jacobson, reporting directly to CEO Michael Arougheti. He joined Ares in 2004 and built the firm's Credit Group into its largest business line, serving as Head of the Ares Credit Group from 2014-2025 and as CEO of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: ARCC), the largest business development company in the U.S., from 2014 until stepping down in April 2025. Before Ares, he was a partner at RBC Capital Partners and began his career at J.P. Morgan; he holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.B.A. from Stanford's Graduate School of Business.

Notable deals

  • 2017
    Led Ares Capital Corporation's $4.2B acquisition of American Capital, Ltd., creating the largest business development company in the U.S. by assets
  • 2025
    Appointed to newly created Co-President role at Ares Management Corporation, expanding from credit into firm-wide strategic leadership
  • 2025
    Stepped down as CEO of Ares Capital Corporation after an 11-year tenure; succeeded by Kort Schnabel, remains on ARCC's board and investment committee

Call-prep brief

Background

  • Joined Ares in 2004; built and ran the Ares Credit Group (2014-2025), Ares' largest business line
  • Served as CEO of Ares Capital Corp (ARCC), the largest U.S. BDC, from 2014 until stepping down April 2025
  • Promoted to firm-wide Co-President of Ares Management in Feb 2025, working alongside co-president Blair Jacobson under CEO Michael Arougheti
  • Yale (BA), Stanford GSB (MBA); prior stops at RBC Capital Partners and J.P. Morgan

Current focus

  • Firm-wide strategic and operational initiatives, investor/counterparty relationships, and leadership development, rather than day-to-day credit underwriting
  • Remains on ARCC's board and investment committee, so retains deep visibility into direct lending pipeline and pricing

What he cares about

  • Scale advantages in private credit, disciplined underwriting through cycles, and succession/bench-building at Ares (frequent public commentary on all three)

Recent moves

  • Handed CEO of ARCC to Kort Schnabel (April 2025) while elevating into a firm-wide role — signals deliberate generational transition at Ares

Sensitivities

  • New to the Co-President seat; may defer specific credit/underwriting questions to Schnabel or Jacobson now that his mandate is firm-wide
  • Wary of forward-looking commentary on ARCC given SEC/BDC disclosure constraints

Questions to ask

  1. How is Ares balancing direct-lending scale advantages against spread compression as more capital chases the same middle-market deals?
  2. What does the Co-President structure change about how Ares evaluates large platform or credit-manager acquisitions going forward?
  3. Which parts of the credit business is he still closest to now that day-to-day ARCC oversight has passed to Schnabel?

Outreach draft

Subject
Quick call on private credit market structure
Hi Kipp, I lead deal sourcing for a private equity fund focused on specialty finance and lending platforms. Given your work building Ares' Credit Group and steering Ares Capital through its scale-up (including the American Capital acquisition), I'd value your perspective on where direct lending economics and BDC competition are headed as you settle into the Co-President role. Would you have 20 minutes in the next few weeks for a call? Happy to work around your schedule, and glad to share what we're seeing across our portfolio in return. Best, [Placeholder Name]

Linked companies

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