Apollo has now completed its merger with life and retirement reinsurance company Athene Holding Ltd., creating a company with an implied market capitalisation of around $43 billion.
Apollo now considers itself a “high-growth alternative asset manager with asset management and retirement services capabilities”, with two subsidiaries, Apollo Asset Management (formerly known as Apollo Global Management, Inc.), the alternative investment management business, and Athene, its retirement and reinsurance services business.
When this merger was originally announced in March 2021, the deal terms valued Athene at roughly $11 billion and suggested the combined company could be valued at $29 billion.
Things move fast and Apollo today said that its implied market capitalisation is now at around $43 billion, based on the last trading day closing prices of the two firms.
“Apollo and Athene are world-class franchises that have flourished as strategic partners, and we expect the full alignment achieved by our merger will accelerate our collective growth,” Apollo CEO Marc Rowan explained. “I am thrilled to partner with experienced leaders and talented teams within both businesses that will drive our differentiated ‘One Apollo’ model forward. Together, we will continue to serve the investment return and retirement savings needs of all our clients.”
“Athene and Apollo have seen tremendous mutual benefit from our longstanding strategic relationship, and now with full alignment our value will be significantly stronger than the sum of our parts,” added Jim Belardi, CEO of Athene. “This combination is a competitive differentiator and a growth accelerant, bringing expected benefits to all of our shareholders, policyholders and important stakeholders.”
“As a combined public company, we have created a superior model to deliver highly stable and diversified earnings, to accelerate our growth, and to originate the highest quality assets for our clients. Together we articulated an attractive plan to generate $15 billion of deployable capital over the next five years and more than double our fee-related earnings. We are excited to continue executing on this plan together,” Scott Kleinman and Jim Zelter, Co-Presidents of Apollo Asset Management also said.
The combined entity, Apollo Global Management, Inc., will be led by Chief Executive Officer Marc Rowan.
Apollo Asset Management will continue to be led by Co-Presidents Scott Kleinman and Jim Zelter, while Athene will continue to be led by CEO Jim Belardi.
Apollo is now eligible for inclusion in the S&P 500 index and said that it hopes the enhanced trading profile of its shares will attract a broader and diversified investor base over time.
