U.S. private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC shelved its plans to sell its military security services business Constellis Holdings LLC and may now consider a dividend recapitalization, Reuters reported June 14, citing people familiar with the matter.

The sources reportedly said Apollo had been looking at an outright sale of the business while also considering an initial public offering, but the firm cooled on the latter as Constellis management preferred to remain private.

As for a possible sale, Apollo was seeking $2 billion to $2.5 billion, but Canada's Garda World Security Corp. and at least two private equity firms that considered buying Constellis did not meet the price, the sources added.

Constellis was founded in 1997 as Blackwater by former U.S. Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince and was acquired by Apollo in 2016 for about $1 billion.