Berry Is Another Blast Against Apollo (APO, BERY, PSP)

The IPO market may have several winners that are up 50%, 100%, or more from their summer IPO prices, but the IPO game for Apollo Global Management, LLC (NYSE: APO) is not looking too hot. The IPO of Berry Plastics Group Inc. (NYSE: BERY) is an Apollo-led private equity deal and it is yet another disappointment for the private equity giant.

IPOdesktop.com’s Francis Gaskins was on Bloomberg TV just a while ago blasting Berry Plastics as a company leveraged-up with debt and growing only via acquisitions. Gaskins even went on to note that he would not want to buy any Apollo-led IPOs until he is convinced that there is a decent deal out there from the private equity firm.

To show just how bad this 29.4 million share IPO was, Berry is trading down at $15.07 from its $16.00 offering price. Berry’s projected price range was $16.00 to $18.00. Apollo retains roughly 59% of the company after the IPO. Berry was shown to have a massive debt load of $4.5 billion that is now over five-times the company’s annual earnings.

Realogy Holdings Corp is another Apollo-backed IPO and it is scheduled to come public in the next week, and it is also under a heavy debt load.

Despite a disappointing IPO, Apollo shares are up 2.3% at $14.75 as last night’s presidential debate would indicate that private equity as a sector might get bashed a little less ahead. The PowerShares Global Listed Private Equity (NYSEMKT: PSP) ETF is also up 1.7% at $9.67 on the day.

JON C. OGG