Associate, Real Estate Debt

Over the last 20 years, Ares’ success has been driven by our people and our culture. Today, our team is guided by our core values - Collaborative, Responsible, Entrepreneurial, Self-Aware, Trustworthy - and our purpose to be a catalyst for shared prosperity and a better future. Through our recruitment, career development and employee-focused programming, we are committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive work environment where high-performance talent of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives can build careers within this exciting and growing industry._ **Job Description**: The Ares Real Estate Debt team is seeking an investment professional to join their London team. The position will play a highly visible and key role in the investment process, assisting deal teams in the sourcing and assessment of short-term debt, equity and mezzanine investment opportunities in core, core plus, and value-added oriented commercial real estate projects throughout Europe. The Ares Estate Debt team focuses on directly originating loans using its extensive relationships with various owner-operators, sponsors, and intermediaries of real estate properties. We seek to provide flexible financing across a potential borrower’s capital structure. While we focus on self-originated transactions, we will also selectively pursue secondary market acquisitions and club/syndicated transactions. Primary Functions & Essential Responsibilities - Participate in the sourcing, assessment and structuring of investment opportunities by critically evaluating the merits and risks of the investment through the development of financial metrics, models, and sensitivities. - Identify differing economic and performance scenarios that appropriately bracket an investment’s potential performance and prepare models to measure the economics of the transaction. - Develop an appropriate capital structure for an investment based upon its business plan and key risks to performance through analysis and discussions with sponsors, market participants and investment professionals. - Understand the physical characteristics of each property, and the related competitive advantages and disadvantages it offers. - Assess and critically evaluate the existing and potential operating characteristics of a project (revenue, expenses, capital expenditures, tenant credit, and leases). - Identify and understand a project’s market positioning; gather market information through independent field work and direct contact with brokers, appraisers, and developers. Synthesize information and draw a conclusion on the business plan including future market rent, absorption, vacancy, and liquidity in the investment market. - Perform credit analysis of potential sponsors. Critically assess the execution ability of the sponsor team for a project. - Prepare a comprehensive investment submission and communicate conclusions and investment risk in a narrative presentation to senior management including approval through participation in Investment Committee. - Perform ad-hoc analyses for asset management, capital markets, and investor relations teams. Education - BS or Master’s Degree in finance, real estate, or related field Experience Required - 2-4 years Relevant experience in Real Estate Finance or Real Estate Private Equity in Europe - Expertise in Excel, Powerpoint and the overall financial valuation and modelling process - Solid understanding of and ability to model multiple asset classes - Talent for managing multiple projects simultaneously - Ability to quickly and efficiently perform tasks, maintaining a focus on details - Ability to perform market analysis, including rent and sales comparable studies, "on the ground" market tours, meetings with brokers and market experts - Ability to assess qualitative and quantitative characteristics of properties and/or investments - Ability to summarize thoughts into a concise manner and effectively communicate (written and verbal) both internally and externally (changes in a model, financial metrics, investment thesis) - Should have relevant transactional experience in real estate debt - Strong Integrity and Professionalism Reporting Relationships Head of European Real Estate Debt