Apollo Global Management Inc. launched a stand-alone European lending company with more than EUR10 billion, or about $11.2 billion, of capacity, betting that defense, energy and infrastructure spending across the continent will need more financing than banks alone can supply.
European Credit Company, announced Monday, will lend to large and midsize businesses, private-equity sponsors and owners of real assets, covering corporate loans, asset-backed financing, infrastructure and real estate. It will find deals through its own origination, partnerships with European financial institutions and Apollo’s broader credit platform in the region.
A roster of long-term backers
Alongside Apollo funds and affiliates, the platform is capitalized by the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, the Apollo-linked insurer Athora, Japan’s Norinchukin Bank, Standard Chartered PLC and U.S. credit investor Aranda Principal Strategies. The Abu Dhabi commitment extends Apollo’s ties to the emirate’s sovereign wealth a week after it agreed to buy a stake of nearly 10% in Mubadala Capital.
The company is led by Chief Executive Giacomo Petrobelli, a longtime European financial-services banker, with former bank executive Christian Meissner as chairman. It has staff in Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg and Milan and plans to open additional offices over the coming quarters.
Why Europe
Apollo has argued that what it calls a global industrial renaissance, from power grids and the energy transition to defense and digital infrastructure, is creating outsize borrowing needs that are especially acute in Europe, where companies have traditionally relied on bank loans. Its President Jim Zelter framed the new vehicle as an extension of the firm’s European toolkit that will operate alongside its existing franchise.
The launch adds to a rush of permanent-capital lending vehicles built by the largest alternative managers, which raise money from insurers and sovereign funds and hold loans to maturity rather than syndicating them. Such platforms compete directly with European banks for the most creditworthy borrowers.
