Ares Capital Corporation announced that Kort Schnabel was appointed as Co-President. Concurrently, Michael Smith stepped down as Co-President and has been appointed to the Ares Capital Board of Directors. Mr. Smith will continue to serve as a member of the Investment Committee of Ares Capital’s investment manager. Mitchell Goldstein will continue in his role as Co-President of Ares Capital alongside Mr. Schnabel.

Schnabel was a founding member of the Ares U.S. direct lending strategy in 2004 and has been at the firm since 2001. Schnabel currently serves as a Partner and Co-Head of the Ares U.S. direct lending strategy and is a member of the Investment Committee of Ares Capital’s investment manager. Schnabel holds a B.A., cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania in Economics.

“Over the last 18 years, Kort has been instrumental in supporting the growth and investing success of Ares Capital,” said Kipp deVeer, Chief Executive Officer of Ares Capital. “Our ability to name a long-term, high-performing professional like Kort as Co-President reflects the deep bench of talent that Ares Management possesses as the manager of the company. Along with the rest of the management team, I look forward to Kort’s future contributions as we continue to execute against our goal of generating attractive investment returns and creating value for all our stakeholders.”

“On behalf of the Board, we are very excited to have Michael join the Board, and we are grateful for his many years of service as Co-President. Since our initial public offering in 2004, Ares Capital has delivered nearly double the total stock-based returns of the S&P 500. Given his leadership in the industry and at our company, I believe the Board is further strengthened with his addition,” said Michael Arougheti, Co-Chairman of Ares Capital.