Apollo Global Management

History

1990–1994: Foundation

Apollo, originally referred to as Apollo Advisors, was founded after the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1990 by Leon Black, the former head of Drexel's mergers and acquisitions department, along with associates Josh Harris and Marc Rowan. Tony Ressler, another former senior Drexel executive, was also among the firm's original members.

Within six months after the collapse of Drexel, Apollo launched Apollo Investment Fund L.P., the first of its private-equity investment funds, formed to make investments in distressed companies. Apollo raised around $400 million of investor commitments based on Leon Black's reputation as a prominent lieutenant of Michael Milken and a key player in the buyout boom of the 1980s.

Lion Advisors (or Lion Capital) was founded in 1990 to provide investment services to Credit Lyonnais and foreign institutions, seeking to profit from depressed prices in the high-yield market. In 1992, Lion entered into a more formal arrangement to manage the $3 billion high-yield portfolio for Credit Lyonnais which together with a consortium of other international investors provided the capital for Lion's investment activities. Lion Advisors was replaced by Ares Management.

At the time of Apollo's founding, little financing was available for new leveraged buyouts and Apollo turned, instead, to a strategy of distressed-to-control takeovers. Apollo purchased distressed securities, which could be converted into a controlling interest in the equity of the company through a bankruptcy reorganization or other restructuring. Apollo used distressed debt as an entry point, enabling the firm to invest in such firms as Vail Resorts, Walter Industries, Culligan, and Samsonite.

Apollo acquired interests in companies that Drexel had helped finance by purchasing high-yield bonds from failed savings and loans and insurance companies. Apollo acquired several large portfolios of assets from the U.S. government's Resolution Trust Corporation. One of Apollo's earliest and most successful deals involved the acquisition of Executive Life Insurance Company's bond portfolio. Using this vehicle, Apollo purchased the Executive Life portfolio, profiting when the value of high-yield bonds recovered, but also resulting in a variety of state regulatory issues for Apollo and Credit Lyonnais over the purchase.

1995–1999: Investment funds III-IV

In 1995, Apollo raised its third private-equity fund, Apollo Investment Fund III, with $1.5 billion of investor commitments from investors that included CalPERS and the General Motors pension fund. Fund III was only an average performer for private-equity funds of its vintage. Among the investments made in Fund III (invested through 1998) were: Alliance Imaging, Allied Waste Industries, Breuners Home Furnishings, Levitz Furniture, Communications Corporation of America, Dominick's, Ralphs (acquired Apollo's Food-4-Less), Move.com, NRT Incorporated, Pillowtex Corporation, Telemundo, and WMC Mortgage Corporation.

Also in 1995, Apollo's founding partner Craig Cogut left the firm to found Pegasus Capital Advisors. Since its inception, Pegasus has raised $1.8 billion in four private-equity funds focused on investments in middle-market companies in financial distress.

In 1997, Ares Management was founded by Antony Ressler and John H. Kissick, both partners at Apollo, as well as Bennett Rosenthal, who joined the group from the global leveraged finance group at Merrill Lynch, to manage a $1.2 billion market value collateralized debt obligation vehicle. Ares I and II which were raised were structured as market value CLOs. Ares III-Ares X were structured as cash flow CLOs. In 2002, Ares completed a corporate spin-off from Apollo management. Although technically the founders of Ares had completed a spinout with the formation of the firm in 1997, they had maintained a close relationship with Apollo over its first five years and operated as the West Coast affiliate of Apollo. Shortly thereafter, Ares completed fundraising for Ares Corporate Opportunities Fund, a special-situations investment fund with $750 million of capital under management.

In 1998, during the dot-com bubble, Apollo raised Apollo Investment Fund IV with $3.6 billion of investor commitments. As of April 8, 2008, the fund had generated a 10% IRR net of fees. Among the investments made in Fund IV (invested through 2001) were: Allied Waste Industries, AMC Entertainment, Berlitz International, Clark Retail Enterprises, Corporate Express (Buhrmann), Encompass Services Corporation, National Financial Partners, Pacer International, Rent-A-Center, Resolution Performance Products, Resolution Specialty Materials, Sirius Satellite Radio, SkyTerra Communications, United Rentals, and Wyndham Worldwide.

2000–2004: Investment fund V

In April 2001, Apollo raised Apollo Investment Fund V with $3.7 billion of investor commitments. As of April 8, 2008, the fund had generated a 54% IRR net of fees. Among the investments made in Fund V (invested through 2006) were Affinion Group, AMC Entertainment, Berry Plastics, Cablecom, Compass Minerals, General Nutrition Centers (GNC), Goodman Global, Hexion Specialty Chemicals (Borden), Intelsat, Linens 'n Things, Metals USA, Nalco Investment Holdings, Sourcecorp, Spectrasite Communications, and Unity Media.

Although the founders of Ares had completed a corporate spin-off with the formation of the firm in 1997, they had initially maintained a close relationship with Apollo and operated as the West Coast affiliate of Apollo. In 2002, when Ares raised its first corporate opportunities fund, the firm announced that it would separate from its former parent company. The timing of this separation also coincided with Apollo's legal difficulties with the State of California over its purchase of Executive Life Insurance Company in 1991. The same year, Attorney General of California Bill Lockyer accused Leon and an investor group led by French bank Credit Lyonnais of violating California law by having a foreign government-owned bank acquire the assets and bond portfolio of Executive Life Insurance.

In April 2004, Apollo raised $930 million through an initial public offering for a listed business development company, Apollo Investment Corporation. In September 2004, investment funds managed by Apollo and Sterling Partners acquired Connections Academy. It was sold in 2011 for $400 million.

2005–2009: Investment fund VI-VII

In 2005, Apollo formed Hexion Specialty Chemicals through the merger of Borden, Inc., Resolution Performance Products LLC, and Resolution Specialty Materials, LLC, and the acquisition of Bakelite AG. Hexion announced in July 2007 that it was acquiring Huntsman Corporation, a major specialty-chemicals company, in a $6.5 billion leveraged buyout. Hexion announced in June 2008 it would refuse to close the deal, prompting a series of legal actions. The transaction was terminated in December after a settlement between Hexion and Huntsman, wherein they were required to pay Huntsman $1 billion to drop fraud charges.

Between 2005 and 2007, the private equity market was booming. Among Apollo's most notable investments during this period were Harrah's Entertainment, Norwegian Cruise Line, Claire's Stores, and Realogy.

In 2006, Apollo acquired Rexnord Corporation for $1.825 billion, Berry Plastics for $2.25 billion, Momentive Performance Materials for approximately $3.8 billion, and TNT N.V. for $1.9 billion.

In August 2006, Apollo launched a $2 billion vehicle in Europe, AP Alternative Assets. It was a Guernsey-domiciled publicly traded, private-equity closed-end, limited partnership, managed by Apollo Alternative Assets, an affiliate of Apollo Management. Apollo initially attempted to raise $2.5 billion for the public vehicle, but fell short when it offered the shares in June 2006, raising only $1.5 billion. Apollo raised an additional $500 million via private placements in the weeks following that sale. AAA was formed to invest alongside Apollo's main private-equity funds and hedge funds. AAA's investment portfolio was made up of a mix of private-equity and capital-markets investments. It was liquidated in 2020.

In October 2006, Apollo announced a $990 million leveraged buyout of Jacuzzi Brands, a manufacturer of whirlpool baths. In 2006, Apollo acquired International Paper's coated paper and supercalendered paper business for $1.4 billion, renaming the business Verso Paper. Verso is the second-largest producer of the North American magazine publishing and catalog/commercial print markets. In May 2008, Verso became a public company via an IPO.

In February 2007, Apollo acquired Oceania Cruises for $850 million and provided additional capital to fund the expansion of the company with the purchase of two new cruise ships.

2010–2014: Public company via an IPO

In November 2009, Liberty Global acquired Unity Media GMBH; funds managed by Apollo owned a 31% interest.

In December 2009, Apollo announced the acquisition of Cedar Fair Entertainment Company for $635 million and assumed debt valuing the company at $2.4 billion. In April 2010, the deal was terminated due to poor shareholder response.

In January 2011, Apollo acquired 51% of Alcan Engineered Products from Rio Tinto Group.

On March 29, 2011, Apollo became a public company via an IPO.

In June 2011, Apollo acquired CKx.

In March 2012, Apollo acquired the unprofitable Great Wolf Resorts for $703 million.

In November 2012, Apollo acquired McGraw-Hill Education for $2.5 billion.

In 2013, Apollo acquired Pitney Bowes Management Services (PBMS) for $400 million. From PBMS, Apollo formed Novitex Enterprise Solutions. Novitex is a document-outsourcing provider that manages business-critical services for over 500 companies across 10 industries. In 2017, it was merged into Exela Technologies.

On March 11, 2013, Apollo Global Management made the only bid for the snacks business of Hostess Brands, including Twinkies, for $410 million.

In December 2013, Apollo bought a portfolio of Irish home loans from Lloyds Bank for €307 million, less than half their face value. The shares were bought by an Apollo Global Management subsidiary, Tanager Limited.

In January 2014, Apollo acquired Chuck E. Cheese's for about $1 billion. Apollo owned the company until 2020, when it was purchased by Monarch Alternative Capital.

2015–2019

In May 2015, Centerbridge Partners acquired Great Wolf Resorts from Apollo for $1.35 billion.

In June 2015, Apollo agreed to acquire OM Group for $1.03 billion.

Also in June 2015, Apollo won the bidding during an auction for Saint-Gobain's Verallia glass bottle-manufacturing unit for €2.95 billion.

In February 2016, Apollo agreed to acquire The ADT Corporation for $6.9 billion.

In April 2016, Apollo executive Stephanie Drescher donated $1000 to the presidential campaign of John Kasich, then Ohio governor. As governor, Kasich appointed a member to the Ohio state pension board. This donation violated an SEC pay-to-play pension rule. In 2019, the SEC chose not to enforce the rule.

In June 2016, funds managed by Apollo Global Management acquired Diamond Resorts International. It was sold to Hilton Worldwide in August 2021.

In November 2016, investment funds managed by Apollo acquired Rackspace.

In 2016, investment funds managed by Apollo acquired Constellis for $1 billion. Constellis is a private military contractor that was created as a result of a merger between rival contractors Triple Canopy and Academi in 2014. Academi, founded by Erik Prince and formerly known as Blackwater USA, is best known for its role in the Nisour Square massacre, where Blackwater guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians and injured 20.

In February 2017, Apollo Education Group, the parent company of the University of Phoenix, was acquired by investment funds managed by Apollo and the Vistria Group, for $1.14 billion.

In June 2017, investment funds managed by Apollo acquired 80.1% of Philips Lumileds division for $1.5 billion.

2020–2024

In February 2020, investment funds managed by Apollo acquired Covis from Cerberus Capital Management. In April, AGM announced that it would invest $300 million in Cimpress, an Irish-domiciled printing group that owns Vistaprint.

In May 2020, Apollo purchased $1.75 billion of preferred stock in Albertsons Companies.

In July 2020, Apollo launched a $12 billion platform to make big loans. The same month, Apollo and The Walt Disney Company sold Endemol Shine Group to the French studio Banijay Group.

In September 2020, Apollo entered into a $5.5 billion real-estate investment partnership with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).

In March 2021, Apollo Investment Corporation closed a $110 million mezzanine credit facility between LendingPoint and MidCap Financial Trust. In the same month, Leon Black resigned as CEO and chairman after revelations that he paid Jeffrey Epstein $158 million for personal tax-related advice between 2012 and 2017; he was replaced as CEO by Marc Rowan.

In April 2021, Apollo launched Apollo Origination Partnership, a $1.8 billion direct-lending fund seeking unleveraged returns of 8-10% and 12-14% leveraged returns. The same month, funds managed by Apollo acquired The Michaels Companies, parent of Michaels.

In May 2021, Apollo's Gamenet acquired the Italian gaming businesses of International Game Technology for €950 million. In July, funds managed by Apollo acquired EmployBridge, a large American industrial-staffing company that has been cited for dozens of safety violations and wage infractions.

On July 22, 2021, it was announced that Legendary Entertainment was looking for a merger instead of a SPAC. On January 31, 2022, a minority stake in Legendary was sold to Apollo Global Management, with Wanda Group remaining the majority owner.

In August 2021, Apollo announced the acquisition of the incumbent local exchange carrier operations in 20 states from Lumen Technologies for $7.5 billion, including $1.4 billion of assumed debt. The same month, Apollo launched a $500 million fund to invest in SPACs.

2025–2029

In January 2025, Apollo acquired Barnes Group, an American aerospace company. In February, Apollo announced that a fund managed by Apollo affiliates acquired a majority stake in Bold Productions Services, a production-linked provider. Also that month, Apollo agreed to acquire the American real-estate investment company Bridge Investment Group for $1.5 billion.

In July, Apollo-backed insurance company Athora purchased Pension Insurance Corporation, a British company, for $7.8 billion. In September, Apollo announced plans to launch a £3.75bn investment vehicle focused on sport.

In October 2025, Apollo discussed with Paramount Skydance about joining David Ellison's possible bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery – a megadeal that could cost upwards of $60 billion.

In November 2025, Apollo acquired 55% of the shares of Atlético Madrid, becoming the majority shareholder of the club. In December 2025, it was announced Apollo had also acquired a minority stake in Wrexham A.F.C., a professional football club based in Wrexham, Wales for an undisclosed amount.

In April 2026, Intel announced an agreement to repurchase the 49% stake in a joint venture with Apollo for $14.2 billion.

On July 10 it was announced that European low-cost airline EasyJet had accepted a bid from Apollo Global Management, which valued the business at £5.7 billion. EasyJet confirmed on 6 August that, subject to rigorous EU regulatory approval, Apollo will take over the company for £5.7-billion ($7.7-billion) after rival bidder Castlelake pulled out of the bidding.

Private-equity funds

Since its inception in 1990, Apollo has raised ten flagship private equity funds, as follows:

Investigations

Leon Black's payments to Jeffrey Epstein and leadership transition

In 2021, Apollo co-founder and then-CEO Leon Black stepped down amid scrutiny over his financial relationship with financier Jeffrey Epstein, including reporting that Black paid Epstein $158 million for tax and estate planning advice and related services. The episode drew broader attention because Epstein was later federally charged in the Southern District of New York with sex trafficking-related offenses.

Separately from Apollo's internal leadership matters, lawmakers and regulators have continued examining financial institutions and transactions connected to Epstein's network. In late 2025, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden stated his "follow-the-money" investigation into Epstein's network would continue, and referenced an "Epstein file" held by the Treasury Department.

DOJ document releases referencing Apollo executives

In 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice began publishing a repository of Epstein-related records (often described as the "Epstein files"), which includes searchable document sets and indexes. Materials in the repository include entries that reference current Apollo leadership, including Marc Rowan and Scott Kleinman; the presence of names in the repository does not by itself establish the nature or context of any interaction without the underlying document detail. In response to the contents of the files, the American Federation of Teachers and American Association of University Professors called on the SEC to investigate Apollo for giving investors "an inaccurate and incomplete picture of the firm and its partners' connections to Epstein".