Ares European CLO XVI DAC: 11 December 2022

The assets securing the Notes will consist primarily of a portfolio of Senior Obligations, Mezzanine Obligations and High Yield Bonds, and will be managed by Ares Management Limited.

Eligibility criteria (includes): it is a Secured Senior Loan, a Secured Senior Bond, a Corporate Rescue Loan, an Unsecured Senior Obligation, a Mezzanine Obligation, a Second Lien Loan or a High Yield Bond, in each case; it is not a lease; it is not a: (i) Structured Finance Security; (ii) a letter of credit; (iii) a Synthetic Security; or (iv) a Participation of a Participation; it is not a Zero Coupon Security, Step-Up Coupon Security or Step-Down Coupon Security; other than in the case of a Corporate Rescue Loan or Uptier Priming Debt, it has an S&P Rating of not lower than "CCC-" and a Fitch Rating of not lower than "CCC-"; it is not a Long-Dated Collateral Obligation; it is not a Project Finance Loan; it is an ESG Compliant Obligation; it has a minimum purchase price of 60.0% of the Principal Balance of such Collateral Obligation.

The Issuer anticipates that by the Issue Date it, or the Collateral Manager on its behalf, will have purchased or committed to purchase Collateral Obligations the Aggregate Principal Balance of which is equal to at least €370mln, which is approximately 92.50% of the Target Par Amount.

The Notes (other than the Retention Notes) are being offered by the Issuer through Merrill Lynch International in its capacity as placement agent of the Notes subject to prior sale.

EU & UK Risk Retention: Ares European Loan Funding II Limited will act as retention holder for the purposes of the EU/UK Retention Requirements and will undertake, for so long as any Notes are outstanding, to retain a material net economic interest in the first loss tranche of not less than 5% of the nominal value of the securitised exposures through the purchase and retention of Subordinated Notes with an original Principal Amount Outstanding (such original Principal Amount Outstanding calculated as of the date of issuance of such Subordinated Notes including the date of any issuance of additional Subordinated Notes) equal to or greater than 5% of the Collateral Principal Amount on the relevant date of determination within the meaning of Article 6(3)(d) of the Securitisation Regulations in effect on the Issue Date.

US Risk Retention: The Retention Holder will retain an "eligible horizontal residual interest" such that the US Retained Interest satisfies the requirements for compliance with the US Risk Retention Rules.