Aspida Financial, a vehicle newly launched by Ares Management, acquired Pavonia Life Insurance Company of Michigan, a Michigan-domiciled insurance company with approximately $1.1bn of assets and approximately $76m of statutory capital and surplus, for $75m. “The launch of Aspida Financial and its plan for growth is the next evolution of Ares’ existing insurance platform, Ares Insurance Solutions, which now has over 100 insurance investors with $15bn in assets invested across our products,” said Michael Arougheti, Chief Executive Officer and President of Ares. “We are excited to expand our presence in the growing insurance sector and to utilize Ares’ extensive capabilities for our first control acquisition of an insurance company that we can grow organically through new distribution channels and potentially inorganically through reinsurance and acquisitions. We have strong conviction that Ares can use its breadth, experience and scale to help Aspida become a market-leading insurance company.”