Ares, Veronis Suhler Partner on Debt Deal

Ares Capital Corp. and Veronis Suhler Stevenson have closed on a deal providing $86.5 million in debt financing to an undisclosed provider of educational resources and services in the medical space. Ares Capital and VSS have a collaboration agreement focused on bringing flexible senior debt financing to middle market companies in the information, education, media and marketing services industries.

PRESS RELEASE
Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) and Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS) announced today that Ares Capital closed a loan transaction for a growing provider of educational resources and services in the medical space. Ares Capital and VSS have a collaboration agreement focused on bringing flexible senior debt financing to middle market companies in the information, education, media and marketing services industries.

Ares Capital acted as administrative agent and as lead investor in the senior secured credit facility to support the recapitalization of the company.

“We are pleased to announce the completion of the loan transaction through our collaboration agreement with Veronis Suhler Stevenson,” said Michael Arougheti, President of Ares Capital Corporation. “By working with VSS, we are able to enhance our proprietary deal flow and benefit from VSS’s significant industry knowledge. We view this transaction as an excellent example of the value and effectiveness of this venture.”

“This transaction highlights how VSS can leverage its deep industry relationships and track record of investing in growing verticals in the lower middle market to identify attractive financing opportunities and collaborate with Ares Capital to enable it to deliver value-added financing solutions to middle market companies within these industry verticals,” said Bill Archer, Partner of VSS Debt Capital.

About Ares Capital Corporation
Ares Capital is a closed-end, non-diversified management investment company that has elected to be regulated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. With offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C., Ares Capital is a specialty finance company that provides integrated debt and equity financing solutions to U.S. middle market companies. Ares Capital invests primarily in first- and second-lien loans and mezzanine debt, which in some cases includes an equity component. To a lesser extent, Ares Capital also makes equity investments. Ares Capital is externally managed by Ares Capital Management LLC, an affiliate of Ares Management LLC, a global alternative asset manager and a Securities and Exchange Commission registered investment adviser. As of December 31, 2010, Ares Management LLC had approximately $39 billion of committed capital under management. For more information, visit www.arescapitalcorp.com.

About Veronis Suhler Stevenson
Veronis Suhler Stevenson is a private equity and debt capital fund management company dedicated to investing in the information, education, media, communications and business services industries in North America and Europe. VSS provides capital for buyouts, recapitalizations, growth financings and strategic acquisitions to companies and management teams with a goal to build companies both organically and through a focused add-on acquisition program. To date, VSS equity and mezzanine funds have invested in 67 platform companies, which have in turn completed over 300 add-on acquisitions resulting in a portfolio with realized and unrealized enterprise values totaling over $14 billion. For more information, visit www.vss.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Statements included herein may constitute “forward-looking statements,” which relate to future events or our future performance or financial condition. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, condition or results and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results and condition may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors, including those described from time to time in Ares Capital Corporation’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ares Capital Corporation undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements made herein.