Kirkland & Ellis has advised Ares Management Corporation on the final closing of Ares Pathfinder Fund III at $8.5 billion in limited partner commitments — the largest global asset-based finance fund in the market — with the broader Ares Alternative Credit Pathfinder closed-end strategy raising approximately $12.7 billion to invest in asset-based finance over the last nine months.
The fund closed on 12 June 2026, oversubscribed and at an increased hard cap well in excess of its $6.5 billion target, surpassing the $6.6 billion raised by the 2023 vintage Pathfinder II fund. Pathfinder III held its first and final closing in under six months from its January 2026 launch — a timeline that reflects both the scale of institutional demand for asset-based finance exposure and the operational efficiency of Kirkland’s investment funds team on a transaction of this complexity. Investors representing approximately $4 billion of Pathfinder II commitments separately elected to extend the reinvestment period for an additional two years, adding incremental capacity to the overall strategy.
The Kirkland team spanned multiple practice groups and geographies. Investment funds partners Stephanie Berdik, Shreyas Jhaveri and Camille Mott led the core funds work. Tax partners Meredith Levy and Brandon Short handled the tax structuring. ERISA partners Sabrina Glaser and Ted Brown managed pension fund compliance. Regulatory partners Melissa Gainor and Jennifer Kim-Gange covered investment funds regulation. Financial services regulatory partners Sky Kim and Mhairi Caminiti in Kirkland’s London office handled UK and European regulatory aspects — a team composition that reflects the transatlantic investor base the fund was marketed to.
The Ares Pathfinder mandate is one of several major alternative credit fund closings that Kirkland has led in 2026. The firm’s investment funds practice has consistently been instructed on the largest fund formations in the private credit and asset-based finance sector — a market that has expanded rapidly as institutional investors have sought yield outside traditional fixed income and public equity markets.
For law firms with investment funds practices the Ares Pathfinder III closing sets a new benchmark for ABF fund scale. Latham & Watkins, Weil Gotshal and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett have each advised on significant private credit fund formations in the same period, and the competition for major alternative asset manager mandates across Ares, KKR, Apollo and Blackstone will intensify as private credit continues to displace traditional bank lending through the remainder of 2026.
In-house legal teams at institutional investors allocating to ABF funds will be monitoring Kirkland’s team composition and the regulatory framework the fund was structured under as they evaluate their own exposure to the asset class.