Ares SSG

CEO and Partner Edwin Wong leads the investment committee, alongside Senior Partner Teh Kok Peng. The senior team has worked together in Asian special situations for more than two decades. Following the 2019 management buyout from Ares Management, all investment authority rests with the Hong Kong-based leadership group. The firm's partnership structure ensures that the same individuals who built the portfolio continue to control allocation decisions directly.

Ares SSG was created through a management buyout of Ares Management's Asian special-situations unit in July 2019. The deal gave control to the Asian leadership team led by Edwin Wong and Teh Kok Peng. Ares Management retained a minority economic interest in the new entity. Operationally and in investment decision-making, Ares SSG is fully independent from its former parent.

The firm provides capital across the balance sheet, spanning senior secured direct lending, subordinated and mezzanine debt, rescue financing, and structured equity. It targets mid-market Asian companies facing capital dislocation, often where bank financing is unavailable or insufficient. Real estate investments are principally in recapitalizations and structured financing rather than outright property acquisitions.

The firm runs its own commingled special-situations and credit funds rather than making LP commitments to external managers. Its investment model is built on directly originating and underwriting private credit deals across the Pacific Rim. There is no public record of Ares SSG acting as a fund-of-funds investor in third-party private equity or credit vehicles.

Confirmed deployment spans India, Greater China, and Southeast Asia. The firm maintains investment offices in Hong Kong, Mumbai, Singapore, and Shanghai to source deals locally. While the portfolio is pan-Asian by design, publicly known transactions are concentrated in the three regions where the firm has physical origination teams.