Apollo Global Management has formed partnerships with a group of major US banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup, as it accelerates efforts to bring greater scale and liquidity to the fast-growing private credit market, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The report cites unnamed people familiar with the matter as revealing that under the arrangement, the banks act as broker-dealers, either purchasing investment-grade private loans originated by Apollo or brokering and pricing these assets for third-party buyers.
Discussions with additional banks are ongoing.
By syndicating loans through leading Wall Street players, Apollo gains greater balance sheet capacity and distribution power, allowing it to underwrite larger deals at a faster pace. It also enhances liquidity for individual investors, who increasingly allocate to alternatives but require more frequent redemption options than institutional LPs.
While private credit has traditionally operated as a buy-and-hold asset class, Apollo is spearheading a push to reshape that narrative. The firm has traded over $3bn in private loans since September, including $260m in just the past week, and is developing a private credit trading platform designed to offer real-time pricing and secondary-market access.
This initiative builds on Apollo’s broader strategy to expand its credit trading footprint. The firm recently hired Jim McDonnell, formerly of Bank of America, to help scale its platform. Apollo is also working with legal counsel to enhance structuring flexibility, opening up its deals to a broader base of secondary buyers.
“In 18 months, investors won’t be able to distinguish private from traditional credit,” Apollo CEO Marc Rowan predicted late last year, foreshadowing a future where price transparency and liquidity become the norm rather than the exception.
Apollo frequently holds investment-grade credit on the balance sheet of its insurance affiliate Athene, but trading partnerships with top banks will further diversify its distribution channels and generate fee income from transactions. The firm has also engaged asset managers and institutional investors to boost liquidity options.
This year, Apollo teamed up with State Street to launch the first-ever private credit ETF, underscoring its ambition to unlock retail access to the asset class through new channels.
However, not everyone in the private markets ecosystem is aligned with this vision. Blue Owl Capital co-CEO Marc Lipschultz has expressed skepticism, stating the firm has “no aspiration to turn a private market into a public market.”
