Gillian Tan, Columnist

It's Liftoff for Apollo's Record Fund

It'll contribute to a more stable and predictable earnings stream, for one.

July 26, 2017 at 9:31 PM UTC

Gillian Tan is a senior reporter covering finance and alternative asset classes including real estate, infrastructure, private equity, private credit, venture capital and sports business. She previously wrote an opinion column for Bloomberg and was a reporter at the Wall Street Journal. She is a qualified chartered accountant.

1501094624_pic — Photographer: NASA/Newsmakers via Getty Images

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Apollo Global Management LLC just confirmed one of Wall Street's worst-kept secrets: It has raised a record $24.6 billion for the world's biggest buyout fund, exceeding its initial target of $23.5 billion. I've written previously that the combination of the industry's peak levels of dry powder and rich deal valuations could dampen firms' returns, and Apollo may be no exception to that trend.

For now, neither executives nor investors are breaking a sweat, in part because Apollo continues to ferret out attractive buyout opportunities, helped by its willingness to tackle slightly riskier, more complicated deals. The latest came earlier this month with its agreed-upon takeover of struggling golf club operator ClubCorp Holdings Inc. at a buyer-friendly valuation of less than 8 times the Dallas company's projected 2018 earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation.