Apollo Says It Will Raise $20B War Chest For Pandemic-Era Loans

Apollo Global Management has kicked off an effort to raise over $20B to take advantage of the current economic disruption, specifically by meeting a surging demand for credit.

The money will be raised during the coming year, as well as through existing funds and possibly new ones. Company executives discussed the plan during a conference call on Friday, though not in detail.

"There's a lot of opportunities and a lot of great companies that need capital," Apollo co-founder Joshua Harris said. "And so, we're there across the board with the broadest alternative credit platform." 

Also not specified: an estimate of how much lending might be related to real estate. As a private investor, however, Apollo is deeply involved in the sector, with about $29B in real estate assets under management in North America, Europe and Asia.

Aside from any lending Apollo makes with the new $20B, it said it is also in the market for equity real estate investments. The company has long pursued an opportunistic strategy when it comes to real estate, and it is also a major investor in commercial real estate debt.

"We remain in the market for real assets-related strategies such as infrastructure equity in U.S. and Asia real estate, all of which are seeing attractive opportunities emerge in distressed, stressed and capital solutions," Harris said.

Apollo is hardly alone in preparing to ramp up its real estate deals. Blackstone and Starwood also have sizable cash commitments available for the sector. Elliott Management and Appaloosa Management are showing interest in acquiring distressed assets, Bloomberg reports.

In March, Compound Asset Management unveiled a fund designed to invest in hospitality companies hit hard in the short term by the pandemic, but that are expected to recover.

Apollo said Friday that it lost $996.2M in the first quarter of 2020, but that hasn't keep it from being an active investor thus far this year, with $40B invested in Q1. In April, the company acquired a $1.2B equity stake in Expedia Group.