Apollo Global Management has confirmed the departure of Michele Raba, its lead partner for European private equity, after a 15-year tenure that saw him play a central role in some of the firm’s most significant continental investments, according to a report by Bloomberg.
Raba, who joined Apollo in 2010 from Goldman Sachs, worked on deals including Oldenburgische Landesbank, Gamenet, Lottomatica, Ingenico and The Travel Corporation. His exit follows a string of successful transactions, most recently Apollo’s sale of OLB to Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale in a €1.8bn deal that generated roughly 3.5x money-on-money returns, and its exit from Italian gambling operator Lottomatica.
Apollo has appointed London-based partner Alex van Hoek as its new European private equity lead. The firm described Raba as “a great partner to the firm” in a statement thanking him for his contribution.
Globally, Apollo’s private equity business is led by David Sambur and Matt Nord. The firm’s 10th flagship buyout fund reported a 23% net IRR as of the end of June. Recent activity includes the $6.3bn acquisition of International Game Technology’s gaming division alongside Everi Holdings, and the purchase of IT services provider Trace3 from American Securities.
