Tariff backlash may slow global fundraising, Apollo CEO cautions

Backlash to aggressive US tariff policy may hamper US-based alternative asset managers' ability to raise capital from outside the country, Apollo Global Management Inc. CEO Marc Rowan said as the firm reported first-quarter earnings May 2.

"We will see reductions in allocations from foreign investors if current trends continue," Rowan said.

He said "certain pockets of limited partners" may face pressure from their own governments not to allocate with US-based managers until there's a political resolution to tariff tensions. But the sheer size of US debt and equity markets means institutions with large amounts of capital to invest have limited alternatives, he added.

"That does not mean that over time there will not be challengers to the US, but it's not one of the things that's keeping me up at night," Rowan said.

Fundraising

Apollo's asset management business raised $18 billion from institutional and individual investors in Q1, down from $19 billion in Q4 and $20 billion in the year-ago quarter. About 70% of the capital raised in Q1 was committed to credit-oriented strategies, while the rest targeted equity strategies.

Combined with the $26 billion that Athene, Apollo's insurance business, drew in the quarter, inflows for the three months ended March 30 totaled $43 billion, a quarterly record for the firm.

Apollo co-President James Zelter said market volatility "did not have an observable impact" on fundraising from wealthy individual investors in Q1. They committed a record $5 billion to the firm in the quarter, up 85% from Q1 2024. Notably, the quarter closed before the Trump administration's "Liberation Day" tariff announcement on April 2.

Assets under management climbed to $785 billion as of March 31, representing 12% growth over the past year for Apollo. That included $64 billion in dry powder available to deploy into new investments, with $27 billion reserved for Apollo's equity strategies.

Private equity

The value of Apollo's flagship private equity portfolio grew 2% in Q1 and was up 6.6% over the last 12 months. Both numbers represented a decline from the year-ago period, when the PE portfolio gained 2.8% and was up 10.5% for the year.

The firm's earnings release noted that a "challenging exit environment" would continue to limit the monetization of its private equity investments.