Ares Industrial REIT Announces Leadership Changes
Ares Industrial Real Estate Income Trust Inc., a publicly registered non-traded real estate investment trust managed by Ares Management Corporation (NYSE: ARES) and formerly known as Black Creek Industrial REIT IV Inc., announced changes to its board of directors and executive management.
The board of directors of Ares Industrial Real Estate Income Trust Inc. appointed William S. Benjamin as a member of the board, an action taken in connection with Evan Zucker informing Ares Management Corporation and the company that, having successfully transitioned the Black Creek Group business sold to Ares Management in 2021, he is leaving to pursue other opportunities. Zucker co-founded Black Creek Group in 1993.
Dwight Merriman has been appointed chairman of Ares Industrial Management and been named co-chair of the board of Ares Industrial Real Estate Income Trust, alongside Benjamin, who is also a partner and global head of Ares Real Estate, as well as the chair of the Ares Real Estate Industrial Investment Committee.
Rajat Dhanda, who previously served as chief executive officer of Black Creek Group, also informed the company that although he will continue as a member of the board of the Ares Industrial REIT and as global head of Ares Wealth Management Solutions, he will step down as co-president of the REIT.
In connection, Dave Fazekas will be stepping into Merriman’s previous role as head of Ares Industrial Management and will also join Jeff Taylor, partner and head of product development and operations within Ares Wealth Management Solutions, as co-president of Ares Industrial REIT while continuing to lead as chief investment officer of Ares Industrial Management.
“Dwight was instrumental in the creation and building of the AIM platform and we are excited for him to take on this important leadership role,” David Roth, partner and co-head of Ares U.S. Real Estate, said. “This is a natural leadership transition for our Industrial team as we continue to evolve, and we are grateful for Dwight and Dave’s collaborative partnership as the team enters its next phase of growth.”
“We have made great progress over the years establishing ourselves as a leader in the sector, and I appreciate the opportunity to continue working closely with Dwight to further drive this momentum,” said Fazekas. “We believe that our vertically integrated platform, tenured team and expansive footprint provide us with significant advantages to continue to capitalize on the unprecedented shift towards e-commerce.”
Merriman joined Ares in 2021 from Black Creek Group, where he was the head of industrial. In his role, he oversaw acquisition, asset management and portfolio management activities for all industrial investments. Previously, Merriman was chief investment officer at Stockbridge Capital Group LLC, a private-equity real estate investment company based in California. Earlier in his career, he was a partner at RREEF Funds and prior to that, a managing director at Carr America Realty Corporation and began his career at Overton, Moore & Associates.
Fazekas joined Ares in 2021 from Black Creek Group, where he was a senior managing director and chief investment officer of industrial. In this role, Fazekas oversaw the sourcing and execution of all industrial investments for the firm. Previously, Fazekas was a principal at Panattoni Development, where he focused on the Northeast Region. Prior to this, he was director of acquisitions at RREEF Management and was the director for the real estate equity team at ZAIS Group.
Ares Industrial REIT also announced that it fully satisfied all stockholder redemption requests in January in the ordinary course. Additionally, Ares Industrial REIT reported that the company continued to experience positive net inflows in January from the proceeds of its capital raising efforts, including from its Delaware statutory trust program.
Ares Real Estate Income Trust launched in January 2006 and has raised more than $3 billion in multiple offerings. As of Sept. 30, 2022, the REIT owned a portfolio of 89 real estate properties totaling approximately 18.5 million square feet that were 95.7% leased and had a leverage ratio of 31.7%.
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