Video: Why Invest Now? – Ares Diversified Credit Fund

12 December 2022

You should read the Fund’s Target Market Determination (TMD) and the Fund’s Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) to ensure the key attributes of the Fund as described in the TMD and PDS aligns with your objectives, financial situation and needs. These documents are available on the Invest Now page on this website.

Hear how the Ares Diversified Credit Fund is positioned to capture opportunities in the current market environment from Head of Ares Australia Management, Teiki Benveniste.


Underlying Fund: CION Ares Diversified Credit Fund

Index Information

Note: Indices are provided for illustrative purposes only and not indicative of any investment. They have not been selected to represent appropriate benchmarks or targets for the strategy. Rather, the indices shown are provided solely to illustrate the performance of well known and widely recognized indices. Any comparisons herein of the investment performance of a strategy to an index are qualified as follows: (i) the volatility of such index will likely be materially different from that of the strategy; (ii) such index will, in many cases, employ different investment guidelines and criteria than the strategy and, therefore, holdings in such strategy will differ significantly from holdings of the securities that comprise such index and such strategy may invest in different asset classes altogether from the illustrative index, which maymaterially impact the performance of the strategy relative to the index; and (iii) the performance of such index is disclosed solely to allow for comparison on the referenced strategy’s performance to that of a well known index. Comparisons to indices have limitations because indices have risk profiles, volatility, asset composition and other material characteristics that will differ from the strategy. The indices do not reflect the deduction of fees or expenses. You cannot invest directly in an index. No representation is being made as to the risk profile of any benchmark or index relative to the risk profile of the strategy presented herein. There can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product will be profitable, equal any corresponding indicated historical performance , or be suitable for a portfolio. The information related to the various indices is sourced from the providers’ websites. Ares is not responsible for any historic revision made to the indices. The indices include the reinvestment of dividends, interest and other earnings and have not been adjusted for management fees or expenses. Correlation results have been calculated using the monthly returns of the below reference indices:

1. “U.S. Equities”is represented by the S&P 500 index. The S&P 500 index is designed to be a leading indicator of U.S. equities and is meant toreflect the risk/return characteristics of the large cap universe.

2. “Global Equities is represented by the MSCI World Index. The MSCI World Index captures large and mid-cap representation across 23Developed Markets (DM) countries. With 1,649 constituents, the index covers approximately 85% of the free float‐adjusted market capitalization in each country. DM countries include: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal,Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US.

3. “U.S. High Yield”is represented by the ICE BofAHigh Yield Index (“H0A0”). The H0A0 consists of below investment grade U.S. dollar denominated corporate bonds that are publicly issued in the US domestic and yankeebonds (issues included in the index have maturities of one year or more and have a credit rating lower than BBB‐/Baa3, but are not in default).

4.“U.S. Leveraged Loans”is represented by the Credit Suisse Leveraged Loan Index (“CSLLI”). The CSLLI is an index designed to mirror the investable universe of the $US‐denominated leveraged loan market.

5.“European High Yield”is represented by the ICE BofAEuropean High Yield Index (“HE00”). The HE00 ) tracks the performance of EUR denominated below investment grade corporate debt publicly issued in the euro domestic or eurobondmarkets.

6.“European Leveraged Loans”is represented by the Western European Leveraged Loan Index (“WELLI”). The WELLI is designed to mirror the investible universe of the Western European leveraged loan market, with loans denominated in $US and Western European currencies.

7.“US IG Corporate Debt”is represented by the ICE BofAUS Corporate Master Index (“C0A0”). The C0A0 tracks the performance of US dollar denominated investment grade rated corporate debt publically issued in the US domestic market. To qualify for inclusion in the index, securities must have an investment grade rating (based on an average of Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch) and an investment grade rated country of risk (based on an average of Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch foreign currency long term sovereign debt ratings). Each security must have greater than 1 year of remaining maturity, a fixed coupon schedule, and a minimum amount outstanding of $250 million.

8.“U.S. Fixed Income”is represented by Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index measures the performance of the U.S. investment grade bond market. The index invests in a wide spectrum of public, investment-grade, taxable, fixed income securitiesin the United States –including government, corporate, and international dollar-denominated bonds, as well as mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, all with maturities of more than 1 year. To be included in the index, bonds must be ratedinvestment grade(at least Baa3/BBB) byMoody’s and S&P. Inception date: January 1, 1976.

9.“Asset-Backed Securities”is represented by the Bloomberg Barclays Asset-Backed Securities Index. The Bloomberg Barclays Asset‐Backed Securities Index is the ABS component of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index and has three subsectors (credit and charge cards, autos, and utility).

10.“Direct Lending”is represented by the NAV returns of Ares Capital Corporation (“ARCC”). Direct Lending is shown for illustrative purposes only and represents the change in net asset value (NAV) plus the value of dividends paid by Ares Capital Corporation (ARCC), a publicly traded business developmentcompany (BDC). ARCC invests primarily in directly originated debt; however, it also invests in some equity and other asset classes. ARCC performance is shown as representative of Ares’ track record in direct lending, as ARCC is Ares’ only direct lending fund that has been investing for over ten years. ARCC NAV and dividends are calculated on aquarterly basis, so for non-quarter end months, we assume 0% returns in order to create a monthly time series. As ARCC is a publicly traded BDC with the ability to invest in assetclasses other than direct lending, its returns may be materially different than what an investor may achieve in a private fund invested solely in direct lending assets. In addition, ARCC NAV is calculated based on the fair value of ARCCs investments. Due to the illiquid nature of direct lending assets, the ability to liquidate them at their fair value cannot be assured.

11.The BofAUS High Yield Master II Constrained Index (“HUC0”) tracks the performance of US Dollar denominated below investment grade corporate debt publicly issued in the US domestic market with a maximum issuer exposure of 2%. The returns of the benchmark are provided to represent the investment environment existing during the time period shown. For comparison purposes the index includes the reinvestment of income and other earnings but does not includeany transaction costs, management fees or other costs. BANK OF AMERICA IS LICENSING THE ICE BofAINDICES AND RELATED DATA “AS IS,”MAKES NO WARRANTIES REGARDING SAME, DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE SUITABILITY, QUALITY, ACCURACY, TIMELINESS, AND/OR COMPLETENESS OF THE ICE BofAINDICES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED IN, RELATED TO, OR DERIVED THEREFROM, ASSUMES NO LIABILITY IN CONNECTION WITH THEIR USE, AND DOES NOT SPONSOR, ENDORSE, OR RECOMMEND ARES MANAGEMENT, OR ANY OF ITS PRODUCTS OR SERVICES.

Ref: AAM-00327