IPO Daily: Apollo Management IPO Back On Track (APO)

It’s 1:00 PM and time for “The IPO Daily” covering anything and everything around initial public offerings.  Last week it looked as though the IPO for Apollo Global Management, LLC was going to get put off.  We were, after all, in the middle of a market meltdown and uncertainty was rising as Japan’s post earthquake and tsunami turned into a nuclear power crisis.  It appears as though the IPO was just being delayed in a white-knuckling market.

Today came the filing (with two prospectus listings) from Apollo.  The first filing showed that it was seeking to resell up to 35,624,540 Class A common shares which represent limited liability company interests.  The second prospectus is in connection with an IPO of Class A shares representing interests and will be for 18,000,000 Class A shares (the selling shareholders are selling up to an aggregate of 8,257,559 Class A shares).

Most of these shares are being sold by holders and the new adjusted price range appears a bit light compared to what was initially being considered with a new range of $17.00 to $19.00 per share.  We had previously been expecting $18.00 to $20.00 per share.

Apollo’s Class A shares will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “APO” and it is led by managing partners, Leon Black, Joshua Harris and Marc Rowan

The private equity giant was founded in 1990 and it raises, invests and manages funds on behalf of prominent pension and endowment funds, institutions, and wealthy individual investors.  As of December 31, 2010, its assets under management was $67.6 billion in its private equity, capital markets and real estate businesses. Apollo’s latest private equity fund was called Fund VII and it closed its raising activities in December 2008 after raising  some $14.7 billion in new assets (having deployed $7.8 billion as of December 31, 2010 with gross and net internal rates of return of 46% and 32%, respectively.

The company’s claim is to have “consistently produced attractive long-term investment returns” in its private equity funds.  Apollo claims a 39% gross internal rate of return and a 26% net internal rate of return on a compound annual basis from inception through December 31, 2010.

Apollo’s IPO has been in the works since the peak of the private equity bubble but market conditions have gotten in the way.  On again, off again.

JON C. OGG

Apollo’s full amended filing can be found here.