Athene Holding and its strategic partner Apollo Global Management agreed to acquire a further 15% stake in Australian investment firm Challenger.
The additional minority interest — 3% of which is subject to customary approval by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority — brings Athene and Apollo's stake in the firm to 18%. That stake is about A$720 million ($546 million), a spokeswoman for Athene said.
Challenger had a total A$104 billion in assets under management as of March 31.
"Investing in Challenger represents an exciting opportunity for us to support a well-established platform within the Australian market, a geography we have been studying given the current economic conditions and compelling demographic fundamentals," said Jim Belardi, chairman, CEO and CIO at Athene, in the news release. "In many ways, Challenger is the perfect partner for us — the company is led by an experienced management team, has a strong market position, attractive growth prospects, and shares our deep commitment to retirees. Together, we believe we can help Challenger continue to build long-term value, similar to what we've been able to achieve in building Athene's business in the U.S. and supporting the growth of our sister company Athora in Europe, where we are also minority shareholders."
Apollo said in March it would acquire Athene. The firm already had a 35% stake in the annuities firm. Athene had $205.7 billion in total assets as of March 31. Alternatives manager Apollo had $461 billion in AUM as of that date.
A spokeswoman for Athene could not immediately be reached for comment.
