Ares names KKR credit boss new CFO

Ares Management has appointed Michael McFerran as executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer, effective 23 March. McFerranwill assume firm-wide CFO and Treasurer responsibilities at the $86 billion alternative investment firm. He was previously the chief financial and operating officer at KKR’s credit group.

At Ares, McFerran takes over the role from Daniel Nguyen, Ares Management’s current chief financial officer and treasurer, who will remain with the firm and take on the responsibilities of chief financial officer within Ares’ private equity and tradable credit groups. The chief financial officer roles for direct lending and real estate will continue to be overseen by Penni Roll and Tae-Sik Yoon, respectively. Roll will also continue as chief financial officer of the Ares Capital Corporation (ARCC) BDC and Yoon will remain the chief financial officer of Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (ACRE).

McFerran had been with KKR since 2005. Prior to joining KKR, he spent most of his career at Ernst & Young in its financial services industry practice where he specialized in providing assurance and advisory services to a diverse mix of financial services firms.

“We are confident that his leadership, expertise and deep knowledge of finance and accounting, including his significant public company experience, will benefit Ares and its employees and investors as we continue to grow our platform,” said Michael Arougheti, president of Ares Management, in a statement.

“We appreciate all of Dan’s contributions as a key member of the company’s management team for more than 15 years, including most recently overseeing Ares transition from a privately held manager to a publicly held company in May 2014,” commented Tony Ressler, chairman and chief executive at Ares. “We are grateful that Dan will remain with the company as CFO of our private equity and tradable credit businesses, where he has overseen the financial functions since their inception.”

Ares listed on the New York Stock Exchange last year. KKR has been publicly traded since May 2010.

McFerran’s is the second high level departure from KKR’s credit group in less than a month. Our sister publication Private Debt Investor reported on 27 February that Craig Farr, head of the credit and capital markets group had exited KKR. Farr founded the credit group at the private equity firm in 2006.