What Apollo announced
Apollo introduced the European Credit Company, or ECC, as a dedicated Europe-focused private credit platform with lending capacity topping 10 billion euros, equal to $11.2 billion. Private credit here means loans from nonbank investors to companies looking for flexible funding outside public bond markets.
What ECC will do and who is running it
ECC will deploy capital into performing credit in both the large-cap and mid-market arenas. This will cover corporate loans and asset-backed financing, as well as funding for owners of infrastructure and property assets. Heading the effort are chief executive officer Giacomo Petrobelli and chairman Christian Meissner.
Partners, timing, and strategy
Apollo said the platform has support from a roster of top-tier investors, with the Abu Dhabi Investment Council among them. Other strategic partners named by Apollo are European insurer Athora, Japan's Norinchukin Bank, Standard Chartered, and U.S. credit investor Aranda Principal Strategies. ADIC's involvement came one week after Apollo reached an agreement to acquire nearly 10% of Mubadala Capital, an alternative asset manager that is a subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Co., the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi.
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Why it matters for your portfolio
Petrobelli called it a "generational opportunity" to finance Europe's long-term growth using global pools of capital, and said, "We aim to build ECC into a premier pan-European credit platform, focused exclusively on the region, with deep local relationships, differentiated sourcing and flexible solutions that span all credit types." Apollo president Jim Zelter added that "The Global Industrial Renaissance is creating tremendous financing needs around the world that are acutely felt in Europe, whether it's energy transition and transmission, defense, or digital and traditional infrastructure." The bottom line: if Europe's build-out needs funding, more private credit capacity could mean a larger pipeline of deals and a broader set of counterparties for investors focused on European credit.
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