Ares Taps Brent Canada to Lead $60B Infrastructure Debt Push

Ares Management has named Brent Canada as its new Head of Infrastructure Debt, poaching a two-decade Macquarie veteran to run what's become one of the largest alternative debt platforms in North America. Canada joins as the Los Angeles-based firm pushes deeper into power generation, transportation, and digital infrastructure — sectors where private lenders are now competing head-to-head with banks that once dominated the space.

The hire signals Ares' intent to keep pace with rivals like Blackstone, KKR, and Blue Owl in a market that's seen private credit allocations to infrastructure triple since 2020. Ares' infrastructure debt book now exceeds $60 billion in assets under management, though the firm hasn't disclosed how much of that capital is currently deployed versus committed.

Canada spent 21 years at Macquarie, most recently as a Managing Director in its infrastructure debt group, where he focused on senior secured lending to energy transition projects and regulated utilities. His move comes as Macquarie itself has pulled back from certain U.S. infrastructure debt markets, citing compressed spreads and heightened competition from non-bank lenders.

He'll report to Michael Arougheti, Ares' co-founder and Executive Chairman, and work alongside the firm's broader infrastructure equity team. The appointment is effective immediately, though Ares hasn't yet named who Canada will replace or if this represents a newly created role.

Infrastructure debt has become one of the fastest-growing segments in private credit, driven by a combination of factors that have little to do with each other but arrived at the same time. Banks retreated from long-dated project finance after Basel III capital rules made infrastructure loans more expensive to hold. Simultaneously, the energy transition created a wall of capital needs — renewable developers, battery storage projects, and grid upgrades all require debt that traditional lenders can't or won't provide at scale.

Add in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which committed $1.2 trillion in federal spending, and you have a market where private lenders can charge 200-400 basis points more than banks while still offering better execution than public markets. Ares has been building its infrastructure debt capability for the better part of a decade, but the pace accelerated after 2022 when rising rates made floating-rate senior loans more attractive to yield-hungry LPs.

The firm now finances everything from gas pipelines to fiber-optic networks to airport expansions. It's also moved into social infrastructure — a term that covers hospitals, schools, and government buildings financed under public-private partnerships. That last category is where Macquarie built much of its reputation, which makes Canada's defection all the more notable.

"Infrastructure debt isn't a monolith," said one infrastructure LP who declined to be named. "You have core-plus lenders doing senior secured deals at 150 over SOFR, and you have mezzanine guys taking construction risk at 800 over. Ares plays across that spectrum, which is why they need someone who's seen the full capital structure."

Canada's track record at Macquarie is concentrated in the kind of deals Ares wants more of: senior secured loans to operating assets with contracted revenue streams. Think toll roads, regulated electric utilities, renewable power plants with offtake agreements. He's also done subordinated debt and preferred equity, which matters as sponsors increasingly seek one-stop financing rather than syndicating deals across multiple lenders.

His LinkedIn profile lists involvement in over 50 infrastructure debt transactions totaling more than $25 billion in commitments, though that figure isn't independently verified and likely includes deals where Macquarie was one of several lenders. What's clear is that Canada has relationships across the sponsor universe — Brookfield, DigitalBridge, EQT, NextEra — and those relationships are portable.

One area where Canada's experience may prove especially valuable: navigating the regulatory labyrinth of U.S. energy projects. Renewable developers often need construction and term debt packaged together, with bridge financing to cover delays in interconnection approvals or equipment delivery. That's a different animal than lending against a stabilized toll road, and it's where a lot of infrastructure lenders have gotten burned.

Macquarie has been the gold standard in infrastructure for decades, but it's a different firm than it was five years ago. The Australian bank has shifted focus toward its asset management arm and pulled back from certain balance sheet lending activities. Several senior infrastructure professionals have left in the past 18 months, most heading to private credit shops like Ares, Blue Owl, and Apollo. Canada's departure is part of that trend — not an isolated event.

Infrastructure debt is no longer a niche product. Preqin data shows private infrastructure debt funds raised $87 billion globally in 2025, up from $62 billion the prior year. North America accounted for 58% of that total, with energy transition and digital infrastructure leading the way. Ares was among the top three fundraisers, though the firm bundles infrastructure debt into broader private credit vehicles rather than raising standalone funds.

But the market is also more crowded — and more expensive — than it was three years ago. Spreads on senior secured infrastructure loans have compressed by 100-150 basis points since 2023 as capital flooded in. Sponsors now have options, which means lenders compete on speed, certainty, and relationship rather than just price. That's where someone like Canada, who's spent two decades building sponsor relationships, becomes critical.

The other shift: infrastructure debt is increasingly correlated with private equity. Many of the largest deals now involve sponsor-backed platforms — think a PE firm buying a fiber network or a renewable developer, then levering it up with private credit. That blurs the line between infrastructure and corporate lending, and it means credit underwriters need to assess sponsor quality as much as asset quality.

The table above represents estimated AUM figures based on public disclosures and industry reports — firms don't break out infrastructure debt separately in most cases. What's clear is that the top four private credit managers now control over $195 billion in infrastructure debt firepower, up from roughly $80 billion five years ago.

One subsector where competition is especially fierce: digital infrastructure. That's a catch-all term for data centers, fiber networks, cell towers, and subsea cables. These assets look like infrastructure — long-lived, capital-intensive, contracted cash flows — but they're growing faster than traditional infrastructure and attracting a different kind of sponsor. Think Stonepeak, DigitalBridge, and Brookfield rather than the old-guard utilities players.

Ares didn't just hire Canada to maintain the status quo. The firm is betting that infrastructure debt will be one of the highest-returning segments of private credit over the next decade, and it's organizing accordingly. That means building out a team that can originate deals directly rather than relying on intermediaries, which is where Canada's sponsor relationships come into play.

It also means moving up the risk curve selectively. Ares has historically focused on senior secured lending — the safest, lowest-returning slice of the capital structure. But as competition has pushed senior spreads down, the firm has started doing more mezzanine debt, preferred equity, and even co-investment alongside its equity funds. That requires different underwriting skills, and it's not clear yet whether Canada's mandate includes those higher-risk products or if he's sticking to senior debt.

Another strategic question: how much construction risk is Ares willing to take? Many of the most attractive infrastructure opportunities right now — utility-scale solar, battery storage, offshore wind — require financing during the construction phase, when projects are burning cash and facing completion risk. Banks won't touch that risk at scale, which creates an opening for private lenders. But it also creates potential for losses if projects get delayed or costs overrun.

Canada's experience at Macquarie suggests he's comfortable with construction lending, but Ares will need to decide how much of its $60 billion+ platform it's willing to allocate to pre-operational assets versus stabilized cash flow. That's a decision that will define the firm's returns — and its risk profile — over the next five years.

There's also the question of where Ares competes geographically. Macquarie is a global firm with a strong presence in Australia, Asia, and Europe. Ares has been largely North America-focused in infrastructure debt, though it's built out teams in London and Singapore. Canada's hire could signal a more aggressive push into international markets, particularly in Europe where infrastructure debt penetration remains lower than in the U.S.

One factor working in Ares' favor: LP demand for infrastructure debt remains strong, even as fundraising has slowed in other private markets segments. Pension funds and insurance companies like infrastructure debt because it offers yield pickup over investment-grade corporates with similar (or better) credit quality, assuming the underwriting is sound. The long-duration, floating-rate nature of many infrastructure loans also helps ALM-focused investors match assets to liabilities.

But LPs are also getting pickier. They want to see differentiated sourcing, not just participation in syndicated deals where spreads are getting hammered. They want credit underwriting that's rigorous, not optimistic. And they want managers who can navigate a down cycle — which infrastructure debt hasn't really seen yet. Canada will be judged on whether he can deliver those things, not just on AUM growth.

Macquarie has been hemorrhaging infrastructure talent to private credit firms for the past two years, and Canada's departure is just the latest. The firm lost several senior infrastructure equity professionals to KKR and Brookfield in 2024, and its infrastructure debt team in New York has turned over almost entirely since 2023. Some of that is natural attrition — people move. But the velocity suggests something structural.

One theory: Macquarie's balance sheet-centric model makes it harder to compete on compensation with private credit firms that offer carry and co-invest. Another theory: the firm's pivot toward asset management and away from principal investing has left some deal professionals feeling like they're in the wrong shop. A third, less charitable theory: Macquarie simply got outcompeted in North America and is ceding ground to better-capitalized rivals.

Whatever the reason, the talent flow is one-directional right now. Private credit firms are raiding infrastructure teams at banks and established infra managers, offering better economics and bigger platforms. Ares, Blackstone, Blue Owl, and Apollo have collectively hired over 40 senior infrastructure professionals from traditional players in the past 18 months. That's not a brain drain — it's a full-scale talent migration.

For Macquarie, the question is whether it can stabilize the team and rebuild, or whether it's now permanently a second-tier player in U.S. infrastructure debt. For Ares, the question is whether it's hiring mercenaries or missionaries — people who want to build something, not just collect a paycheck. Canada's tenure will answer that.

Several infrastructure sponsors reached out for this article declined to comment on the record, but the off-the-record sentiment was consistent: Canada is well-regarded, Ares is getting more aggressive, and competition among lenders is good for sponsors. One sponsor noted that Macquarie's retreated from certain lending markets has created a vacuum that Ares, Blackstone, and Blue Owl are all racing to fill. Another said Canada's move was "inevitable" given how much capital Ares is raising.

No one expressed concern about private credit crowding out banks entirely — there's still a role for senior bank debt in very large syndicated deals — but the consensus was that private lenders now own the middle market and are moving upmarket into larger transactions. That's a structural shift, not a cyclical one, and it's why talent like Canada is so valuable.

For all the momentum behind infrastructure debt, several risks loom. The first is interest rate sensitivity. Most infrastructure debt is floating-rate, which means borrowers are paying SOFR plus a spread. If SOFR stays elevated — or rises further — some borrowers will face debt service coverage issues, particularly in sectors like toll roads or airports where revenue growth is GDP-linked and slow.

The second risk is execution. Infrastructure projects are famously prone to delays, cost overruns, and regulatory snags. Lenders who underwrote deals assuming on-time, on-budget completion could find themselves facing extensions, restructurings, or worse. That's especially true in energy transition projects, where supply chain issues and interconnection backlogs have become the norm rather than the exception.

Third, there's concentration risk. Ares and its peers are all chasing the same deals — renewables, data centers, fiber networks. If one of those subsectors hits trouble — say, merchant power prices collapse or data center demand softens — a lot of lenders will feel pain simultaneously. Diversification is supposed to protect against that, but in practice, infrastructure debt portfolios are more correlated than LPs realize.

Finally, there's the untested question of what happens in a real downturn. Infrastructure debt has been a one-way trade since 2020. Defaults are rare, recoveries are high, and LPs are happy. But infrastructure projects can and do go bust — anyone who lived through the independent power boom-and-bust of the 1990s knows this. The next cycle will test whether private credit managers have the workout capabilities they claim to have, or whether they're just yield farmers in a rising market.

Ares isn't the only firm making big infrastructure debt hires this year. Blackstone brought in three senior professionals from Credit Suisse's infrastructure group in Q1, part of a broader push into social infrastructure and public-private partnerships. Blue Owl hired an entire team from Barclays' infrastructure debt division in late 2025, signaling its intent to move beyond telecom and into regulated utilities. KKR has added seven infrastructure debt professionals since the start of 2024, most from European banks.

The hiring spree reflects a simple reality: infrastructure debt is a relationship business, and relationships sit with people, not firms. If you want to win deals, you need to hire the people who originated them elsewhere. That's expensive — senior infrastructure lenders now command compensation packages that rival those of buyout professionals — but firms are paying it because the alternative is getting shut out of deals.

The table above is based on Preqin and PitchBook data, aggregated across disclosed deals. Actual spreads vary widely based on credit quality, tenor, and structure. The point is that renewable power and data centers are eating the market, while traditional infrastructure subsectors like transport and utilities grow more slowly.

What's missing from the hiring wave so far: junior talent. Firms are competing for 15-20 year veterans but not investing as heavily in training the next generation. That's a problem if infrastructure debt is going to be a multi-decade asset class rather than a cyclical trade. Someone needs to learn underwriting, structuring, and workout skills from the people being hired today — and it's not clear that's happening at scale.

Canada's appointment won't change the market overnight, but it positions Ares to compete more aggressively in 2026 and beyond. The firm will likely announce a dedicated infrastructure debt fund in the next 12-18 months — something it hasn't done yet, preferring instead to allocate capital from its broader credit vehicles. That fund could target $5-10 billion, putting it in direct competition with Blackstone's latest infrastructure debt vehicle (which closed at $8 billion in early 2026).

You should also expect Ares to lean harder into co-investment and one-stop financing. Sponsors increasingly want a single lender who can provide senior, mezzanine, and preferred equity in one package, which reduces execution risk and simplifies the capital structure. That's a capability Ares has but hasn't marketed aggressively. Canada's hire suggests that's about to change.

More broadly, infrastructure debt is at an inflection point. It's gone from niche to mainstream, but it hasn't yet faced a real stress test. The next 24 months will determine whether private credit managers can navigate defaults, restructurings, and LP scrutiny as well as they've navigated a bull market. If they can, infrastructure debt becomes a permanent fixture in institutional portfolios. If they can't, it'll be remembered as another overcrowded trade that worked until it didn't.

For now, the trade is working. Spreads are compressed but still attractive. Defaults are negligible. LPs are allocating. And talent is flowing from banks and established managers into private credit shops that promise bigger platforms and better economics. Brent Canada's move from Macquarie to Ares is just one data point in that trend, but it's a telling one. The question isn't whether private credit will dominate infrastructure lending — it already does. The question is who wins within private credit, and whether the returns justify the hype.