ARDC - Ares Dynamic Credit Allocation Fund

What this means for you

2 large investors own more than 5% of this fund but have told the regulator they are not seeking changes. That is common for banks, brokers and index funds that hold shares for their clients.

Nothing is required of you. If an investor changes its mind, it must file a new notice within days, and it will show up here.

Email me if this changes

What happened, and when

1. Oct 29, 2026

   Wells Fargo & Company cut its stake to 7.8% (from 8.3%), as a passive investor.

   Original document →

2. Oct 29, 2026

   Principal Life Insurance Co. sold down below 5% of the fund's preferred shares and stopped reporting.

   Original document →

3. Oct 6, 2026

   Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada now owns 19.5% of the fund's preferred shares, not the common shares most holders own.

   Original document →

4. Oct 6, 2026

   Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada now owns 19.5% of the fund's preferred shares, not the common shares most holders own.

   Original document →

5. Sept 16, 2026

   Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 20% of the fund's preferred shares, not the common shares most holders own.

   Original document →

About this fund

• Run by Ares Capital Management II LLC. As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
• Size: about $322 million of holdings, as of June 30, 2026. As of June 30, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Borrowing: the fund borrows about 42% on top of its own money, as of June 30, 2026. Borrowed money makes gains and losses bigger. About 42% of that is money the fund has borrowed by selling preferred shares. As of June 30, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Costs: 1.7% a year in management fees; 5.3% a year in total, including interest on borrowed money. Fiscal year ended Dec 31, 2025. As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
  Among the 90 funds we follow that invest in bonds, 76 charge a lower management fee and 77 charge less in total, at their last yearly reports. Both numbers are measured against the fund's own money, not the money it borrows on top, so a fund that borrows more shows higher costs on both counts.
• Payouts: last fiscal year (ended Dec 31, 2025) the fund paid $1.36 a share, all of it income. Most funds announce their monthly or quarterly payout on their own website, not in a filing with the regulator, so a cut or a raise there does not show up here until the next yearly report. A few funds do file a notice about a fixed payout; those appear under What happened, and when. As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Value of holdings per share at the last fiscal year end (Dec 31, 2025): $14.34. The shares traded at $13.30, about 7.3% below that. As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
• How the holdings did: up 6.7% over the last three months we have (April-June 2026), before the share price is taken into account. As of June 30, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• First reported to the regulator in 2011.

How this has changed

• Payouts per share: $1.36 in the fiscal year ended Dec 31, 2025; $1.41 in the year ended Dec 31, 2024; $1.36 in the year ended Dec 31, 2023.As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• None of those payouts was your own money back; all of it was income or gains.As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Costs, including interest on borrowed money: 5.26% a year in the fiscal year ended Dec 31, 2025; 5.58% a year in the year ended Dec 31, 2024; 5% a year in the year ended Dec 31, 2023.As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Size of the holdings: about $344 million at Dec 31, 2025; $347 million at Dec 31, 2024; $332 million at Dec 31, 2023. From the fund's quarterly holdings reports. Original documents: Dec 31, 2025 →, Dec 31, 2024 →, Dec 31, 2023 →.
• Borrowing: about 41% on top of its own money at Dec 31, 2025; 40% at Dec 31, 2024; 37% at Dec 31, 2023. From the fund's quarterly holdings reports. Original documents: Dec 31, 2025 →, Dec 31, 2024 →, Dec 31, 2023 →.

What these lines mean: a payout that is your own money back, what a fund costs, borrowing.

What a holder made

• The year ended Dec 31, 2025: the shares returned -3.1%, counting payouts; the holdings +6.7%. The holdings figure is what the fund's investments earned, before the share price is taken into account. As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Dec 31, 2024: the shares returned +21.1%, counting payouts; the holdings +11.8%. As of Dec 31, 2024, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Dec 31, 2023: the shares returned +32.4%, counting payouts; the holdings +19.5%. As of Dec 31, 2023, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Dec 31, 2022: the shares returned -22.2%, counting payouts; the holdings -12.4%. As of Dec 31, 2022, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Dec 31, 2021: the shares returned +23.1%, counting payouts; the holdings +10.3%. As of Dec 31, 2021, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Those five years together: the shares returned +48.8%. $10,000 of shares bought at the start (Jan 1, 2021) would have become about $14,900 by Dec 31, 2025, with every payout counted, before tax. As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The holdings over the last twelve months we have, to June 30, 2026: -1.7%. The quarterly reports carry no share price, so this is the holdings alone. As of June 30, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Of the 75 funds that invest in bonds with a fiscal year ending within six months of this one, 66 reported a higher share return for that year and 8 a lower one. As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• A past year says nothing about the next one. All figures are the fund's own, from its reports to the regulator.

Why the shares and the holdings can differ: the gap between price and value. Why payouts count: a payout that is your own money back.

What the fund holds

Mostly loans (38%), the rest bonds and asset-backed bonds. About 66% issued in the U.S.

1. Freeport LNG Investments LLLP 2026 Term Loan B - 1.9%
2. Crown Subsea Communications Holding,Inc. 2026 Term Loan B - 1.6%
3. Peer Holding III BV 2025 USD Term Loan B4B - 1.5%
4. Williams Companies, Williams Cos Inc/The - 1.5%
5. Open Text - 1.4%
6. Databricks Inc 2025 1st Amendment Term Loan - 1.4%
7. Rr 42 - 1.4%
8. GFL Environmental Inc 2025 Term Loan B - 1.3%
9. Vistra Operations Co LLC - 1.3%
10. Iron Mountain - 1.3%

As of June 30, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →