Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) executives highlighted record full-year earnings and strong momentum across origination, capital formation, and investment performance on the firm’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call, while reiterating expectations for continued growth in 2026.
Record 2025 results and broad-based strength
Head of Investor Relations Noah Gunn said Apollo delivered “record combined fee-related earnings and spread-related earnings” of $5.9 billion in 2025, driving adjusted net income of $5.2 billion, up 14% year-over-year, or $8.38 per share.
Rowan emphasized that performance was achieved “without reaching,” citing returns across credit “up 8%–12%,” hybrid value up 16% for the year, and strong results for Fund 10, including a 22% net IRR and “strong DPI versus an industry DPI that rounds closer to zero.”
Origination and capital formation: scale with discipline
President Jim Zelter described Apollo’s model as an integrated system where origination, product, and investing teams operate in sync, and where capital formation helps shape what the firm originates upstream. Zelter said the platform generated “over $60 billion of value” to investors in 2025.
On origination, Zelter said Apollo originated over $305 billion of assets in 2025, up nearly 40% from the prior year. Of the $282 billion of debt originated, he said about 80% was investment grade with an average rating of single A, and 20% was sub-investment-grade with an average rating of single B.
He also discussed origination spreads, stating that investment-grade origination generated excess spread of 290 basis points over Treasuries (or about 220 basis points over rated corporates in the index), while sub-IG origination generated excess spread of 490 basis points over Treasuries (or about 200 basis points over comparable high-yield corporates). Zelter said spreads were stable quarter-over-quarter, even as public spreads remained near “multi-decade tights.”
On capital formation, Zelter said Apollo generated $42 billion of inflows in the fourth quarter and $228 billion for the full year. Asset management delivered $100 billion of organic inflows and $45 billion of inorganic inflows, while Athene added $83 billion. He added that record organic inflows totaled $182 billion, with about two-thirds attributable to third parties.
Zelter and Rowan repeatedly referenced Apollo’s expansion from serving one core market to “six markets,” including individuals, insurance, the debt and equity buckets of institutions, traditional asset managers, and the 401(k) market. Rowan said each market could be similar in size to the original institutional alternatives market, but requires different products, access points, and technology investment.
Financial details: AUM growth, fees, and Bridge contribution
CFO Martin Kelly said asset management AUM and fee-generating AUM rose 25% year-over-year to $938 billion and $709 billion, respectively, helping drive the record $2.5 billion of FRE. Management fees grew 22% in 2025, which Kelly attributed to third-party inflows into credit and equity strategies, capital deployment, and growth at Athene.
Kelly reported capital solutions fees of $226 million in the fourth quarter and more than $800 million for the full year, supported by more than 125 transactions in the quarter and about 430 in the year. He also said fee-related performance fees increased 28% year-over-year, reflecting scaling of wealth products and perpetual vehicles led by ADS, with contributions from other platforms including Redding Ridge and MidCap.
On expenses, Kelly said fourth-quarter fee-related expense growth reflected the full-quarter impact of Bridge, investments in senior hires (including heads of strategy and Asia), technology platforms, data and AI initiatives, and seasonal factors. The firm’s full-year FRE margin was about 57%, stable year-over-year and consistent with its target. Kelly said that in the first four months post-acquisition, Bridge contributed about $105 million of fee-related revenue and $60 million of fee-related expenses; he said “quarterizing” that contribution was a reasonable way to estimate near-term run-rate contribution.
Athene outlook, ARI transaction, and 2026 guidance
In retirement services, Kelly said Athene’s net invested assets grew 18% year-over-year to $292 billion. Apollo generated $865 million of SRE in the fourth quarter, plus $28 million at its long-term 11% return expectation on the alternatives portfolio. The blended net spread excluding notables was 120 basis points in the fourth quarter versus 121 basis points in the prior quarter; Kelly attributed the change primarily to asset prepayments, mostly offset by new business growth and higher returns on the alternatives portfolio.
Kelly also discussed the recently announced transaction with Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (ARI), under which Athene would acquire (subject to ARI stockholder approval) $9 billion of commercial mortgage assets. He said the assets offer “approximately 50–75 basis points of additional spread versus new issued CMLs today,” and noted Athene knows the portfolio well due to nearly 50% ownership overlap with the underlying loans. Rowan and Kelly cautioned that the portfolio would not be fully additive to spread-related earnings because Athene maintains a diversified portfolio and the assets would displace other forms of SRE lending. Kelly said the firm’s confidence in delivering 10% SRE growth for 2026 already “embeds the notion of this portfolio.”
For 2026, Rowan said Apollo continues to expect 20%+ FRE growth in asset management (noting 2026 will not be a flagship fund year) and expects about $85 billion of inflows in retirement services. Kelly said the firm anticipates 10% SRE growth in 2026, assuming an 11% alternatives return, or about $3.85 billion. He also reiterated expectations for a net spread in the “120–125” basis point range, consistent with prior guidance.
Kelly said Apollo returned about $1.5 billion to shareholders through dividends and repurchases in 2025 and intends to raise its annual dividend per share by 10% to $2.25 from $2.04, beginning in the first quarter of 2026. He added that the company expects FRE margin expansion over time, with Rowan later suggesting a “guidepost” of roughly 100 basis points of annual expansion as Apollo balances investment in new capabilities with efficiency gains.
Positioning in software, private credit, and product structure
Executives spent significant time addressing recent “software headlines” and market volatility, emphasizing what they characterized as a conservative posture across the firm. Rowan said Apollo’s software exposure in private equity “rounds to zero,” Athene’s balance sheet exposure “rounds closer to zero than to one,” and ADS has about half the software exposure of large peers. Zelter quantified software exposure as less than 2% of total AUM, with zero exposure in private equity to “gross software,” and about 0.5% on Athene’s balance sheet (mostly investment grade with hyperscalers). He said software exposure in the credit business excluding Athene represents less than 4% of AUM.
On Apollo’s flagship non-traded BDC, ADS, Zelter said the firm has emphasized 100% senior secured first-lien exposure, low PIK, and lower-than-market leverage. Responding to questions about turbulence in the non-traded BDC market, he said ADS posted net new assets growth every quarter in 2025 and more than $5 billion of net inflows, adding that the product’s “return without reaching” positioning is resonating with advisors. Rowan added that many investors are using first-lien private credit as a way to de-risk relative to equity exposure.
Executives also highlighted growth opportunities beyond traditional alternatives, repeatedly pointing to investment-grade private credit as a larger opportunity set. Rowan said the industry conversation is often focused on a “narrow sector” of private credit while “not touching the $35–40 trillion opportunity” in investment-grade private credit, noting a short-duration investment-grade strategy launched about 18 months ago that has grown to more than $7 billion in assets.
About Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO)
Apollo Global Management, Inc (NYSE: APO) is a global alternative investment manager that specializes in private equity, credit and real assets. The firm originates, invests in and manages a broad set of strategies across distressed and opportunistic credit, direct lending, structured credit, buyouts and real estate. Apollo provides investment management and advisory services to institutional clients and individual investors through pooled funds, separate accounts and publicly listed investment vehicles.
Its private equity business pursues control and non-control investments across industries, often focusing on complex or distressed situations where operational improvement and capital solutions can create value.
