New York: Apollo Global Management is looking to raise roughly $2.5 billion to lend to large corporate borrowers in private markets, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The second fund comes after the Apollo Origination Partnership Fund I, which closed last year and has already been deployed, said the people, who declined to be identified as the details are private. Apollo started marketing the new fund over the summer, they added.
An Apollo representative declined to comment.
The plan comes as other large private credit firms build up war chests to compete in the increasingly crowded corporate market. The lending firms have gained ground, with banks that dominate public debt markets having pulled back last year amid a spike in interest rates and a drop in investor risk appetite.
The likes of Oaktree Capital Management, HPS Investment Partners and Ares Management have recently launched mega-funds for direct lending strategies.
The fund will add more cash to Apollo’s $50 billion of assets under management in direct lending. AOP II will have similar targets as the first generation of the fund, which focused on large corporate borrowers - firms that generate in excess of $100 million EBITDA - primarily in North America and Western Europe, according to an August press release.
