Apollo offers $114 billion to borrowers as net income flips to a loss

Big lending push and what moved the stock

Apollo Global Management, a major financier of the AI build-out, ramped up lending to an all-time high during the three months through September, saying it offered borrowers $114 billion. That total was more than 50% larger than in the prior quarter and the year-earlier period.

The expansion came as rising interest rates led to unrealized losses on certain Athene investments, tipping net income into the red. The stock dropped as much as 6.2% to $112, the steepest intraday slide since June.

Fee-related earnings rose 23% to $820 million. Adjusted net income edged down 4.7% to $1.29 billion, or $2.07 per share.

Deals, fees, and the AI credit engine

Apollo's capital-solutions business, which is targeting more lending to blue-chip borrowers, produced a 37% increase in fees versus the same quarter of 2025. Private-credit heavyweights including Apollo and Blackstone are helping finance artificial intelligence infrastructure for the largest tech firms.

A week ago, Apollo co-led an equipment lease financing totaling $40 billion for SpaceX to purchase GPU chips. It has also been increasing loans to companies in the power and energy sectors to diversify exposure. Even so, some areas of the market are nearing the capacity of debt they can take on.

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Apollo is also pushing into takeover financing historically owned by investment banks, including serving as an underwriter on $9.6 billion in debt pledged to back Thrive Holdings' deal for ADT Inc. Assets under management climbed to $1.07 trillion at quarter end, with about $880 billion generating fees, up 28% from a year earlier.

PE marks, exits, and the Austin build-out

Apollo's private equity flagship funds, at roughly $23 billion, recorded a 2.6% loss in the quarter. The unit completed two exits: selling a stake in UK housebuilder Miller Homes and selling Kelvion, which provides cooling solutions for data centers.

The firm plans to expand trading and data capabilities to establish more regular pricing for private assets it sells, budgeting around $350 million for the effort. It expects trading volumes to top $40 billion by year end. "We will write off our software and and eliminate the systems previously relied on as we update and take advantage of new technologies in a much faster way than we otherwise would have," President Jim Zelter said. The build-out will be based primarily in Austin, Texas.

Apollo named Austin its second headquarters earlier this year, part of a broader migration of finance firms to Texas for business-friendly policies and local talent. The new office will serve as the primary base for much of its market-making and will oversee teams for new products, distribution, and investing infrastructure for both Apollo and Athene.

CEO's read and what to watch

"We do have to acknowledge the under-performance," Chief Executive Officer Marc Rowan told analysts, pointing to "one or two investments that were unique to Athene." He also said the Apollo-backed insurer Athora weighed on results as it pursued expansion in Europe.

The bottom line: Apollo's fee engine is running hotter even as insurance marks and PE performance pull the other way. For your portfolio, the swing factor is whether the firm's capital-solutions growth and Austin-driven trading overhaul translate into steadier fees and less earnings volatility over the next few quarters.

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