Ares Capital Corporation Declares Regular Dividend of $0.40 Per Share, an Additional Dividend of $0.10 Per Share and Announces September 30, 2006 Financial Results.

Fourth Quarter Dividend and Additional Dividend Declared

NEW YORK -- Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: ARCC) announced that its Board of Directors has declared a regular fourth quarter dividend of $0.40 per share and an additional dividend of $0.10 per share, both payable on December 29, 2006 to stockholders of record as of December 15, 2006.

The additional dividend was declared as Ares Capital must make certain distributions of its taxable income in order to maintain its tax status as a regulated investment company. Investors can refer to the Company's most recent report on Form 10-K for more information about its tax status. Taxable income differs from GAAP income due to both temporary and permanent differences in income and expense recognition. For example, changes in unrealized appreciation and depreciation have no impact on the Company's taxable income. Ares Capital reports the actual tax characteristics of dividends annually to each stockholder on Form 1099-DIV.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2006 FINANCIAL RESULTS

Ares Capital today announced financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2006.

HIGHLIGHTS

* Total fair value of investments of $1.03 billion

* Net assets per share of $15.06

* Stockholders' equity of $739.3 million

* Declared 3rd Quarter 2006 dividend of $0.40 per share

* Completed a public add-on equity offering of 10,781,250 common shares, raising $162.0 million in net proceeds

* Completed a $400.0 million on-balance-sheet debt securitization, issuing $314.0 million of asset backed notes at a weighted average rate of 0.34% over LIBOR. As part of this securitization, the Company retained approximately $86.0 million of such notes.

* Reported 3rd Quarter 2006 Basic and Diluted GAAP EPS of $0.39

* Reported 3rd Quarter 2006 Basic and Diluted Core EPS of $0.371

Third Quarter 2006 Operating Results:

* Net income: $18.1 million or $0.39 per share

* Net investment income: $17.3 million or $0.37 per share

* Net realized and unrealized gains: $813,000 or $0.02 per share

Third Quarter 2006 Portfolio Activity

* Purchase cost of additional investments made during period: $288.3 million

* Sales/redemptions of investments during period: $134.9 million

* Number of portfolio company investments as of September 30, 2006: 56

* Weighted average yield of debt and income producing equity securities as of September 30, 2006: 12.27%2

* Average total assets for the quarter was $1.0 billion

OPERATING RESULTS

For the quarter ended September 30, 2006, Ares Capital reported net income of $18.1 million or $0.39 per share. Net investment income for the third quarter was $17.3 million or $0.37 per share and net realized and unrealized gains were $813,000 or $0.02 per share.

In the third quarter of 2006 Ares Capital made approximately $273.7 million in new commitments across 13 portfolio companies (8 new borrowers and 5 existing borrowers). Ten separate private equity sponsors were represented in these new transactions. Six of these sponsors are new to the ARCC portfolio. In total, 48 separate private equity sponsors are represented in the Ares Capital portfolio. Also during the quarter, we made one investment in a non-sponsored transaction. Of the $273.7 million in new commitments during the quarter, approximately 43%, 22%, 28% and 7% were made in first lien senior secured debt, second lien senior secured debt, senior subordinated debt and equity/other securities, respectively. Of these investments, 41% were floating rate. During the quarter, significant new commitments included:

* $53.0 million in senior term debt, revolver commitment and equity to an education publications provider;

* $47.0 million in senior term debt, revolver commitment and equity of a personalized gifts marketer and retailer;

* $34.2 million in senior term debt, senior subordinated debt and equity of a radiation oncology care provider;

* $32.5 million in senior subordinated debt and equity of a for-profit thrift retailer;

* $25.0 million in senior term debt of a Puerto Rico based QSR restaurant owner and operator; and

* $20.0 million in senior term debt and equity of a powersport vehicle auction operator

During the third quarter of 2006, Ares Capital had net realized and unrealized gains of $813,000. The portfolio value of Ares Capital's investments at September 30, 2006 was $1.03 billion. As of September 30, 2006, these portfolio investments (excluding cash and cash equivalents) were comprised of approximately 64% in senior secured debt securities (39% in first lien and 25% in second lien assets), 27 % in mezzanine debt securities, 7% in preferred/common equity securities and 2% in other securities (senior notes/CDO investments).

In addition to $37 million of investments that Ares Capital has made since September 30, 2006, the Company has outstanding commitments to fund an aggregate of approximately $305 million of investments. The Company expects to syndicate a portion of these commitments to third parties. In addition, Ares Capital has an investment pipeline of approximately $205 million. The consummation of any of the investments in this backlog and pipeline depends upon, among other things, one or more of the following: satisfactory completion of our due diligence investigation of the prospective portfolio company, our acceptance of the terms and structure of such investment, the execution and delivery of satisfactory documentation and the receipt of any necessary consents. Ares Capital cannot assure you that we will make any of these investments.

Total assets were $1.1 billion as of September 30, 2006. Stockholders' equity was $739.3 million at September 30, 2006, while net assets per share was $15.06. As of September 30, 2006, the weighted average yield of income producing debt and equity securities was 12.27%.3 As of September 30, 2006, 54% of the Company's assets were in floating rate debt securities.

"The third quarter was very active for us and we are very pleased with the financial and operational results. In addition to raising over $475 million in capital, we turned in another exceptional quarter of gross originations with $273 million," said President Michael Arougheti.

"We also continued delivering capital gains as we have in every quarter since inception. We have generated realized capital gains of $26 million year to date and over $36 million in realized gains since inception. Due to this very strong performance, we expect our taxable income to exceed our dividend this year and, therefore, have declared an additional dividend of $0.10 per share to be paid along with our regular fourth quarter dividend of $0.40 per share. In addition, we expect to carry over additional excess taxable income, net of a 4% excise tax, into 2007 providing further dividend stability into next year. We are very pleased to deliver additional returns to our shareholders and believe this is a reflection of our growing franchise and our position as a premier "one stop" financing provider to middle market companies."

PORTFOLIO QUALITY

Ares Capital employs an investment rating system (Grade 1 to 4) to categorize its investments. Grade 4 is for those investments that involve the least amount of risk in our portfolio (i.e. the borrower is performing above expectations and the trends and risk factors are generally favorable). Grade 3 is for those investments that involve a level of risk that is similar to the risk at the time of origination (i.e. the borrower is performing as expected and the risk factors are neutral to favorable). Grade 2 is for those investments where a borrower is performing below expectations and indicates that the risk has increased materially since origination. Grade 1 is for those investments that are not anticipated to be repaid in full. As of September 30, 2006, the weighted average grade of Ares Capital's portfolio investments was 3.0. As of September 30, 2006, all of our portfolio companies are current on their debt service obligations and we have no investments on non-accrual.

LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES

As of September 30, 2006 Ares Capital had $15.0 million outstanding under the separate $350 million credit facility of our subsidiary, Ares Capital CP Funding LLC, a single member, special purpose, limited liability company, which expires on October 31, 2007, unless extended prior to such date with the consent of the lenders. As of September 30, 2006, Ares Capital had $87.0 million outstanding under our $250 million revolving credit facility, which expires on December 28, 2010.

On July 7, 2006, Ares Capital completed a $400.0 million debt securitization and issued approximately $314.0 million principal amount of asset-backed notes (including $50.0 million of revolving notes to third parties that have not been drawn down to date), secured by a pool of middle market loans that were purchased or originated by Ares Capital. The blended pricing of these notes, excluding fees, is approximately 3-month LIBOR plus 34 basis points. Ares Capital retained approximately $86.0 million of certain BBB and non-rated securities in this debt securitization. The securitization is an on-balance-sheet financing for Ares Capital. The notes mature on December 20, 2019. As of September 30, 2006, there was $264.0 million outstanding under these notes.

On July 18, 2006, Ares Capital closed a public add-on offering of 10,781,250 shares of common stock (including the underwriters' overallotment of 1,406,250 shares) at $15.67 per share. Total proceeds received from the add-on offering, net of the underwriters' discount and estimated offering costs, were approximately $162.0 million.

A portion of the proceeds from the add-on offering and the securitization were used to repay outstanding indebtedness. The remaining proceeds are being used to fund investments in portfolio companies in accordance with our investment objectives and strategies and for general corporate purposes.

DIVIDEND

For the three months ended September 30, 2006, Ares Capital declared a regular dividend on August 9, 2006 of $0.40 per share for a total of approximately $19.6 million. The record date was September 15, 2006 and the dividend was distributed on September 29, 2006.

WEBCAST/CONFERENCE CALL

Ares Capital will host a webcast/conference call, Thursday, November 9, 2006, at 10:00 a.m. (ET) to discuss its third quarter 2006 financial results. PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBCAST PAGE LOCATED IN THE STOCK INFORMATION SECTION OF THE INVESTOR RESOURCES PORTION OF THE COMPANY'S WEBSITE FOR A SLIDE PRESENTATION THAT COMPLEMENTS TOMORROW'S CONFERENCE CALL.

All interested parties are welcome to participate via telephone or the live webcast, which will be hosted through our web site at www.arescapitalcorp.com. Please visit the web site to test your connection before the call. You can also access the conference call by dialing [phone] approximately 5-10 minutes prior to the call. International callers should dial [phone]. All callers should reference "Ares Capital Corporation." An archived replay of the call will be available through November 23, 2006 by calling [phone]. International callers please dial [phone]. For all replays, please reference pin #1229422. An archived replay will also be available on our website, and the slide presentation will remain available in the Presentations section of the Investor Resources portion of our website.

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ABOUT ARES CAPITAL CORPORATION

Ares Capital Corporation is a specialty finance company that is a closed-end, non-diversified management investment company regulated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Its investment objective is to generate both current income and capital appreciation through debt and equity investments. Ares Capital Corporation invests primarily in first and second lien senior loans and mezzanine debt, which in some cases includes an equity component, and, to a lesser extent, in equity investments in private middle market companies.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Statements included herein may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are not guarantees of future performance or results and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results 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 our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ares Capital undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements made herein.

AVAILABLE INFORMATION

Ares Capital Corporation's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, press releases, earnings releases and other financial information are available on the Company's website at www.arescapitalcorp.com.

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