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SummaryCompaniesEarnings beat Wall Street estimates, shares rise 7%Assets reach $908 billion, edging to $1 trillion targetReturns from annuities business improve NEW YORK, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Apollo Global Management (APO.N), opens new tab beat Wall Street's forecasts for third-quarter profit and pledged more growth on Tuesday, backed by a swelling pile of assets, growth in lending and profit from its retirement unit. The alternative asset manager reported adjusted net income per share of $2.17, surpassing a $1.91 estimate compiled by LSEG, and told investors to expect rising fee income and better returns from annuity provider Athene into 2026. Advertisement · Scroll to continueReport Ad Apollo shares were up 7.3% at $133.04 on Tuesday afternoon. The rise helped offset some of the stock's year-to-date losses, but still left the company's market value 19% lower on the year. Apollo primarily focused on private equity when it was founded in 1990, but later branched out to become a major corporate credit investor, helped launch Athene and took full control of it in 2021. Overall inflows hit $82 billion in the quarter, boosting total assets under management to $908 billion, edging toward CEO Marc Rowan's target to manage $1 trillion by 2026 and $1.5 trillion by 2029. About $34 billion came from the purchase of real estate firm Bridge Investment Group. Advertisement · Scroll to continue Athene sold around $10 billion in annuities, which promise a fixed stream of payments over time, to retail customers in the third quarter. This was closely followed by a $9.7 billion chunk from funding agreements which are used to raise capital from U.S. Federal Home Loan Banks - government-chartered cooperatives that provide mortgage funding - and other institutions. It is generally harder to withdraw money from annuities than from bank accounts, meaning insurers can use those stable, long-term funds to invest in other assets to generate returns. Spread-related earnings, a key indicator of Athene's profitability, rose to $871 million. Apollo assuaged some investor concerns about the impact of interest rate fluctuations on the unit. The company said it had reduced $9 billion of exposure by hedging, and Rowan said he did not expect long-term interest rates to "plummet." Ad Break Coming Up NEXT StayNext OffEnglish 180p288p360p480p540p576p720pHD1080pHDAuto (180p) About ConnatixV2139381526 About ConnatixV2139381526 Continue watchingafter the adVisit Advertiser websiteGO TO PAGE Chief Financial Officer Martin Kelly said spread-related earnings had "troughed" in the first half of the year. RECORD FEE-RELATED EARNINGS Fee-related earnings from managing assets and arranging debt and equity transactions hit a record $652 million. Apollo and many of its peers in private equity have met challenges to the traditional model of buying companies and selling them for a profit as interest rates rose. Apollo said on Tuesday the environment for cashing out on the companies it had acquired remained "uncertain." It has signed several financing deals, including a hybrid capital arrangement for a $2.7 billion deal to take members club Soho House (SHCO.N), opens new tab private. Last week, the company said it had teamed up with fellow private capital firm KKR (KKR.N), opens new tab to invest $7 billion in Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP.O), opens new tab, which soothed investor worries about the beverage group's mounting debt. It also raised $5 billion from wealthy investors, whom alternative asset managers are increasingly targeting as investors in private markets. Rowan responded to recent questions about whether a handful of bankruptcies indicate serious risks to credit markets, and what this means for lending outside the traditional banking system. "Look at the recent blow-ups. Almost all of those have taken place in credits underwritten by the banking system," he said. "I don't think we are talking about systemic risk," he said, adding: "bad actors are going to get called out." Reporting by Isla Binnie in New York and Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Matthew Lewis Purchase Licensing Rights Get the key points from this story with Reuters AI Isla BinnieThomson ReutersIsla Binnie reports on how company directors and executives manage stakeholder and shareholder interests, with a focus on compensation, corporate crises, dealmaking and succession. She also covers how politics, regulation, environmental issues and the broader economy affect boardroom discussions. Isla previously covered business, politics and general news in Spain and Italy. She trained with Reuters in London and covered emerging markets debt for the International Financing Review (IFR).EmailXLinkedinArasu Kannagi BasilThomson ReutersBasil writes stories across the U.S. finance file including banks, asset managers, payment firms, insurers, and exchange operators. He also covers initial public offerings on U.S. exchanges and venture capital funding.EmailLinkedin
