Apollo To Take Bridge Investment Group Private In $1.5B Deal
Apollo Global Management has entered into an agreement to acquire Bridge Investment Group Holdings for $1.5B in stock, taking private an owner with mass amounts of multifamily and industrial real estate holdings.
Based in Salt Lake City, Bridge is one of the largest private equity real estate managers. It has about $50B in real estate assets, including debt, with $22B in fee-paying assets under management.
Each common share held by Bridge investors would be swapped at $11.50 per share for 0.07081 shares of Apollo stock, according to an announcement Monday. Bridge shares were trading for $8.14 when markets closed on Friday, then surged by 36% Monday morning after the deal was announced.
Bridge went public in 2021, with a peak market capitalization of $2.8B that year, but its share prices are still down roughly 31% since then. Apollo’s stock was down roughly 1% as of late Monday morning.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter and would nearly double Apollo’s real estate assets under management to $110B. Bridge will operate as a standalone platform within Apollo's real estate business, according to the release.
Bridge and its more than 300 staff will transition to Apollo, according to the release. Bridge Executive Chairman Bob Morse will become a partner with Apollo Partner and lead the company's real estate equity business.
“Bridge brings a seasoned team with deep expertise and a strong track record in their sectors,” Apollo partner and co-head of equity David Sambur said in a statement. “Their business will complement and further augment our existing real estate capabilities, and we believe we can help scale Bridge’s products by leveraging the breadth of our integrated platform.
Apollo has a goal of reaching $1.5T in AUM by 2029. It ended 2024 with $751B.
“The acquisition of Bridge will further a number of Apollo’s strategic objectives, including growing its global wealth business, and expanding its alternative management capabilities in real estate,” Moody’s Ratings Private Credit Group Vice President Neal Epstein said in a statement. “The all-equity acquisition will have minimal leveraging impact on Apollo, which also continues to build its balance sheet’s liquid resources.”
It’s been able to achieve that growth through major acquisitions, including its $11B merger with Athene in January 2022. The life company represents about 44% of Apollo’s AUM, with a commercial mortgage loan portfolio that totals $26B.
Just last month, Apollo entered into an agreement to acquire Argo Infrastructure Partners, adding $6B of infrastructure assets to its portfolio.
