Morningstar DBRS Discontinues Credit Rating on the Class A-1 Notes Issued by Ares XLVI CLO Ltd.

DBRS, Inc. (Morningstar DBRS) discontinued its credit rating on the Class A-1 Notes (the Notes) issued by Ares XLVI CLO Ltd. (the Issuer).

CREDIT RATING RATIONALE/DESCRIPTION
The discontinuation of the credit rating on the Notes reflects the full repayment of principal and interest due on the Notes on the Redemption Date, dated on or about May 20, 2024.

The Notes were issued pursuant to the Indenture dated as of January 12, 2018, among Ares XLVI CLO Ltd. as Issuer and U.S. Bank National Association (rated AA (high) with a Negative trend by Morningstar DBRS) as Trustee. The Notes were collateralized primarily by a portfolio of U.S. senior-secured floating-rate broadly syndicated corporate loans. The collateralized loan obligation (CLO) was managed by Ares CLO Management LLC (Ares), an affiliate of Ares Management Corporation, as Asset Manager.

The transaction assumptions consider Morningstar DBRS' baseline macroeconomic scenarios for rated sovereign economies, available in its commentary, "Baseline Macroeconomic Scenarios for Rated Sovereigns March 2024 Update," published on March 27, 2024 (https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/430189). These baseline macroeconomic scenarios replace Morningstar DBRS' moderate and adverse pandemic scenarios, which were first published in April 2020.

For more information regarding Morningstar DBRS' additional adjustment for select industries related to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), please see its May 18, 2020, commentary, "CLO Risk Exposure to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)": https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/361112.

ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND GOVERNANCE CONSIDERATIONS
There were no Environmental/Social/Governance factors that had a relevant or significant effect on the credit analysis.

A description of how Morningstar DBRS considers ESG factors within the Morningstar DBRS analytical framework can be found in the Morningstar DBRS Criteria: Approach to Environmental, Social, and Governance Risk Factors in Credit Ratings (January 23, 2024; https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/427030).

Notes:
All figures are in US Dollars unless otherwise noted.

The principal methodology applicable to the credit rating is Global Methodology for Rating CLOs and Corporate CDOs (February 23, 2024; https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/428544).

Other methodologies referenced in this transaction are listed at the end of this press release.

The credit rating was initiated at the request of the rated entity.

The rated entity or its related entities did participate in the credit rating process for this credit rating action.

Morningstar DBRS had access to the accounts, management and other relevant internal documents of the rated entity or its related entities in connection with this credit rating action.

This is a solicited credit rating.

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The credit rating methodologies used in the analysis of this transaction can be found at: https://dbrs.morningstar.com/about/methodologies.

-- Operational Risk Assessment for Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLOs) and Corporate Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) (September 14, 2023), https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/420608
-- Interest Rate Stresses for U.S. Structured Finance Transactions (February 26, 2024), https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/428623
-- Legal Criteria for U.S. Structured Finance (April 15, 2024)
https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/431205

For more information on this credit or on this industry, visit dbrs.morningstar.com or contact us at info-DBRS@morningstar.com.