Key Takeaways
- • Ares Management has held acquisition talks with Leonard Green & Partners, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm with approximately $85 billion in assets under management as of end-2025, according to Financial Times reporting.
- • The potential deal would more than quadruple Ares's private equity business, which currently represents only $25 billion of its $644.3 billion total AUM as of March 31, 2026, dramatically shifting Ares's asset composition toward mid-market buyouts.
- • Leonard Green & Partners, founded in 1989, has completed more than 160 investments across services, consumer, healthcare, business services, distribution, and industrials sectors, including portfolio companies such as The Container Store, Petco, HUB International, and Convergint Technologies.
- • No deal has been announced and both firms declined to comment on the talks, though the depth of negotiations signals strategic intent to consolidate mid-market private equity capabilities and the institutional relationships associated with Leonard Green's established platform.
- • The two firms have prior transaction history, including a 2019 Press Ganey sale to an Ares and Leonard Green consortium, and a December 2021 transaction involving Convergint equity sales, demonstrating alignment on deal structures and co-investment arrangements.
Summary
Ares Management has held talks to acquire Leonard Green & Partners, according to reporting by the Financial Times, in a transaction that would fundamentally reshape the buyer's portfolio composition within private equity. Leonard Green & Partners, a Los Angeles-based buyout firm founded in 1989, manages approximately $85 billion in assets under management as of the end of 2025 and has built a substantial platform of more than 160 investments concentrated in mid-market opportunities across services, consumer, healthcare, business services, distribution, and industrials.
The strategic rationale for such an acquisition is evident in Ares Management's current asset allocation. As of March 31, 2026, Ares reported $644.3 billion in total assets under management, with only approximately $25 billion allocated to private equity operations. Leonard Green's $85 billion platform would increase Ares's private equity business more than fourfold, repositioning the firm from a diversified alternative asset manager toward a more substantial private equity operator. While Ares raised $29.5 billion during the first quarter of 2026 alone, demonstrating strong fundraising capacity, Leonard Green's established investor base, management relationships, and deal flow networks represent assets that cannot be rapidly replicated through organic growth.
Leonard Green's portfolio includes prominent mid-market companies such as The Container Store, Petco, HUB International, and Convergint Technologies, alongside a deep network of executive relationships and institutional limited partner commitments that would transfer to Ares upon acquisition. This institutional infrastructure—the relationships, investment decision-making processes, and operational networks—represents the core strategic value proposition beyond simple asset accumulation.
The two firms are not unfamiliar collaborators. In 2019, Ares and Leonard Green jointly backed a consortium that acquired Press Ganey from EQT, and in December 2021, the firms worked together on a transaction in which Leonard Green and Harvest Partners acquired equity in Convergint Technologies from an Ares private equity fund. This prior cooperation establishes operational familiarity and alignment on deal structuring approaches. Neither firm has commented on the current acquisition discussions, and no transaction has been announced, though the reported depth of talks suggests meaningful negotiation activity.
The strategic rationale for such an acquisition is evident in Ares Management's current asset allocation. As of March 31, 2026, Ares reported $644.3 billion in total assets under management, with only approximately $25 billion allocated to private equity operations. Leonard Green's $85 billion platform would increase Ares's private equity business more than fourfold, repositioning the firm from a diversified alternative asset manager toward a more substantial private equity operator. While Ares raised $29.5 billion during the first quarter of 2026 alone, demonstrating strong fundraising capacity, Leonard Green's established investor base, management relationships, and deal flow networks represent assets that cannot be rapidly replicated through organic growth.
Leonard Green's portfolio includes prominent mid-market companies such as The Container Store, Petco, HUB International, and Convergint Technologies, alongside a deep network of executive relationships and institutional limited partner commitments that would transfer to Ares upon acquisition. This institutional infrastructure—the relationships, investment decision-making processes, and operational networks—represents the core strategic value proposition beyond simple asset accumulation.
The two firms are not unfamiliar collaborators. In 2019, Ares and Leonard Green jointly backed a consortium that acquired Press Ganey from EQT, and in December 2021, the firms worked together on a transaction in which Leonard Green and Harvest Partners acquired equity in Convergint Technologies from an Ares private equity fund. This prior cooperation establishes operational familiarity and alignment on deal structuring approaches. Neither firm has commented on the current acquisition discussions, and no transaction has been announced, though the reported depth of talks suggests meaningful negotiation activity.
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