Apollo Global Management’s 2025 surge in assets and inflows amid cautious credit risk management

Apollo Global Management closed 2025 with a surge in client capital that pushed assets under management to roughly $938bn and helped lift several measures of profitability, the firm said as it published fourth-quarter and full-year results.

According to Apollo’s press release, the New York-headquartered group attracted nearly $30bn of net inflows in the final three months of the year and recorded gross inflows of about $42bn in the quarter and $228bn for the year. The company also said origination activity topped $300bn and total inflows for 2025 exceeded $225bn. Management announced a $4bn share buyback plan.

Fee-related earnings climbed 25 per cent year on year to $690mn, outpacing sell-side estimates compiled by Visible Alpha. That improvement reflected a 27 per cent increase in management fees and a 41 per cent rise in fees from capital markets activity, the company reported. Spread income from managing insurance assets rose 3 per cent to $865mn in the quarter.

Net income, however, fell 55 per cent from a year earlier to $660mn, or $1.07 a share, missing Wall Street forecasts. Shares in Apollo have dropped about 8 per cent so far this year, lagging the S&P 500 and underperforming some private‑equity and asset‑management peers such as Ares Management, Blackstone, Blue Owl and KKR.

Chief executive Marc Rowan said in a statement: “Apollo’s fourth-quarter results capped a year of exceptional execution.” According to the company, Rowan highlighted Apollo’s role in financing what it terms an industrial renaissance and in expanding retirement solutions while building what it described as the next generation of financial services.

Retirement and insurance businesses underpinned much of Apollo’s fundraising. The firm’s Athene unit reported retail annuity sales of $34bn for 2025, including $7.3bn in the fourth quarter, a slight decline from $36bn the prior year. Athene has supplemented retail sales with growth in funding agreements, raising $35.4bn in 2025 , up from $29bn in 2024 , a cheaper source of capital the insurer can deploy into credit markets, Apollo said.

Investor materials released alongside the results, summarised by investing.com, showed the asset management arm delivered substantial year‑on‑year expansion, with total AUM rising by about $187bn, or 25 per cent, over 2024. The retirement services business achieved record annual gross inflows of $83bn, the presentation added.

Despite the fundraising and fee gains, investors will be closely watching commentary from management on specific credit exposures. The Financial Times reported last year that Apollo reduced its exposure to software loans amid concerns about the sector following rapid advances in artificial intelligence; Rowan told analysts on the prior earnings call the firm was in “risk reduction mode”. Market participants will be seeking clarity on the extent of remaining exposure to software and other technology credits when management speaks further.

Apollo’s results paint a picture of rapid scale-up in capital and fee generation, balanced against pressure on near‑term earnings and investor scrutiny over sectoral credit risks. The company framed 2025 as a year of record origination and inflows, while acknowledging the need to navigate evolving market conditions as it deploys the newly raised and relatively low‑cost insurance capital across its credit and investment portfolios.