Unlock the Editor’s Digest at no cost
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite tales on this weekly publication.
Apollo World Administration’s belongings below administration hit a excessive of $840bn because the US group accelerated its tempo of investing with markets whipsawing on the again of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The New York-headquartered firm drew in $61bn of contemporary capital within the second quarter, two-thirds of which got here from its asset administration arm as giant institutional traders and rich people sought to capitalise on market volatility.
The corporate was notably lively within the weeks after Trump launched his commerce offensive on lots of the US’s largest financial companions in early April. Chief govt Marc Rowan in Might instructed traders that Apollo had raced to boost capital and make investments as markets slid.
A big portion of those inflows got here by so-called funding agreements, by which Apollo’s insurance coverage subsidiary Athene raises capital from Federal House Mortgage Banks within the US. Apollo on Tuesday disclosed it had raised $11.7bn by the association within the second quarter, a report quantity for the corporate.
The funding agreements in the end should be repaid. However Apollo believes its funding staff can earn extra on these borrowings than they value.
Rowan on Tuesday stated Apollo and its friends had been on the “cusp” of tapping a brand new investing base, giving it additional ammunition to develop. The group is awaiting an govt order that can assist open the $9tn retirement plan market within the US to personal funding methods, which the CEO characterised as “common sense”.
“Plan sponsors . . . understand this and for the most part they would like to include a more diverse set of assets with higher returns for retirees to build for their nest egg,” he stated.
Apollo deployed a report $90bn through the second quarter, which included £4.5bn of loans it agreed to supply electrical energy group EDF to finance its investments within the UK’s Hinkley Level C nuclear energy station. It additionally clinched a deal in April to steer the financing for personal fairness group Thoma Bravo’s acquisition of Boeing unit Jeppesen, beating out a funding package deal led by rival Blackstone.
Rowan has set the purpose of originating $275bn of offers a 12 months by 2029 — a stage that has quickly swung into view. Apollo stated it had originated $81bn of transactions within the second quarter and $260bn over the previous 12 months.
The Apollo chief govt stated the corporate aimed to bolster its origination capability in Europe, notably within the UK. Earlier this 12 months, an insurance coverage group it owns a minority stake in struck a £5.7bn deal to purchase UK retirement financial savings group Pension Insurance coverage Company.
“PIC is to the UK what Athene is to the US,” he added. “It will need sizeable amounts of funding of assets, which will incent us to generate the same kind of originated assets that we have generated in the US.”
Charge-related earnings, a carefully scrutinised metric that captures the administration charges Apollo expenses on its funds, rose 22 per cent from a 12 months earlier to $627mn. That eclipsed Wall Avenue expectations of $577mn, in accordance with Seen Alpha.
The opposite giant part of Apollo’s enterprise — the returns it generates investing on behalf of annuity patrons — additionally topped forecasts. The retirement unit reported spread-related earnings of $821mn, up almost 16 per cent.
Apollo’s acquisition of Irradiant Companions, a supervisor of structured credit score investments, accounted for about $12bn of the rise within the group’s asset base.
Apollo shares have lagged behind the benchmark S&P 500 this 12 months, alongside different giant insurance coverage teams that had reported a banner 2024. The shares have misplaced 13.5 per cent in 2025, in contrast with an 8.4 per cent whole return by the S&P 500.
