Apollo Global Management will acquire Athene Holding in an all-stock deal that values Athene at about $11 billion.
The deal is expected to close in January 2022, the companies said Monday in a statement. Apollo was already the annuity seller's biggest shareholder, with the firm and related entities owning a 35% stake.
Apollo established Athene in 2009 and built it into one of the top fixed-annuity providers in the U.S. In 2016, the insurance firm raised $1.08 billion in an initial public offering. Athene has become an essential fixture in Apollo's financial apparatus, and private equity rivals have since sought to build up their own insurance businesses.
"This merger is all about alignment between Apollo and Athene, amongst Apollo's stockholders and with our limited partners," Apollo co-founder Marc Rowan said in the statement. "For Apollo and Athene, we will have total alignment to optimize our strategy and allocate capital efficiently."
In 2019, the two firms deepened their ties with further investments in each other. The insurer allows the private equity firm to collect money from annuity holders — what's known as "permanent capital" — and invest the assets in the credit funds, distressed debt and buyouts for which Apollo is better known.
