ARES CAPITAL CORP

Item 1. Legal Proceedings

From time to time, we, our executive officers, directors and our investment adviser, its affiliates and/or any of their respective principals and employees are subject to legal proceedings, including those arising from our investments in our portfolio companies, and as a result, incur significant costs and expenses in connection with such legal proceedings.

We and our investment adviser are also subject to extensive regulation, which, from time to time, results in requests for information from us or our investment adviser or regulatory proceedings or investigations against us or our investment adviser, respectively. We incur significant costs and expenses in connection with any such information requests, proceedings and investigations.

On May 26, 2026, a derivative action was brought by Martin Siegel purportedly on our behalf, as plaintiff, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that our investment adviser received excessive advisory fees in violation of its statutory fiduciary duty under Section 36(b) of the Investment Company Act (the “Siegel Action”). On August 14, 2026, a derivative action was brought by Steven Simons purportedly on our behalf, as plaintiff, against our investment adviser, asserting a similar claim based on similar allegations, which is currently pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Simons Action”). The actions seek recovery of damages, including disgorgement of investment advisory fees paid to our investment adviser, injunctive relief, costs and rescission of the investment advisory and management agreement.

These litigations are in their preliminary stages. Our investment adviser disputes the allegations and intends to vigorously defend against them. The outcomes of these matters are inherently uncertain, and we and our investment adviser are unable to predict the ultimate outcome or estimate the amount or range of loss, if any, that may result from these matters.