Fitch analyst Dafina Dunmore said Apollo Global Management caught Wall Street’s attention on Tuesday when it projected it’ll double its assets under management to $1 trillion and also provided specifics about the benefits of its pending combination with insurance annuities specialist Athene Holding Ltd. . “A one trillion number is hard to ignore…also the stock has had somewhat of a discount because of a lack of understanding of the synergies with Athene,” Dunmore told MarketWatch. Apollo provided clarity on the economics of its relationship with Athene going forward, including the benefits of charging origination fees on the total amount of assets that Athene holds and that Apollo manages, rather than a management fee on the funds Apollo is investing on behalf of Athene. Another plus, she said, was the fact that Apollo will be getting roughly $35 billion a year in inflows from Athene on a regular basis rather than the more lumpy way of raising large private equity funds every few years. Another change that may be boosting Apollo is its decision to change its compensation structure in a move that will improve its margins on fee-related earnings. Employees at Apollo will get a lower portion of their compensation from fees and more from performance. Fee related compensation will now comprise 25% of pay, instead of 30%, while principal investing gains will make up 60% to 70% of compensation by 2026. This is a similar to a change that KKR made, she said. Apollo shares rallied 7% to an all-time closing high of $73.18 on Tuesday. The stock fell 0.7% in premarket trades on Wednesday. The stock is up 49.4% so far this year, compared to a rise of 20.3% by the S&P 500 .
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