(Credit: Thinkstock)
Apollo Global Management Inc. — a company that has been pouring institutional investor cash into the life insurance and annuity sectors — wants one of its major clients, Athene Holding Ltd. — to attract more money from the funds that serve ordinary retail investors.
Apollo and Athene today announced a series of transactions that could help Athene break into the S&P 500 stock index and, possibly, get its stock into more mutual fund and exchange-traded fund (ETF) portfolios.
Apollo is a publicly traded, New York-based investment company. Members of the public can buy its stock, but its best known for using cash from big institutional investors to invest in many different kinds of companies, including Great Wolf Resorts, Harrah's Entertainment, the owner of Chuck E. Cheese's, and life and annuity issuers.
Athene is a Pembroke, Bermuda-based insurer with stock that trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ATH. Athene now has about $139 billion in assets, and it has become a major issuer and reinsurer of life and annuity products. In the second quarter, Athene ranked 12th in the Secure Retirement Institute's U.S. individual annuity sales rankings, with about $3.7 billion in new annuity sales.
The Apollo-Athene Relationship
Apollo now owns 17% of Athene and controls 45% of Athene's voting power. It also owns a subsidiary that manages the assets that support Athene's insurance and reinsurance obligations.
The companies have proposed a package of deals that could leave Apollo with both a 35% stake in Athene and 35% of Athene's stockholders' voting power, and Athene with about $350 million in cash.
Apollo could eventually end up buying enough additional Athene stock to own a 40% stake in Athene, the companies say.
Athene would have the capacity to spend $600 million on buying back its own stock.
