Global buyout giant Apollo has promoted senior partner Matt Michelini (pictured) to head of Asia-Pacific, to oversee the firm’s investment and non-investment activities and external relationships in the region. He will continue in his role as global co-head of Apollo Hybrid Value and support the growth of Apollo’s private equity business in Asia, the firm said.
Michelini will initially be based in Hong Kong and will oversee the expansion of the firm’s APAC offices including Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.
Senior partner Steve Martinez has become vice chairman of Asia-Pacific to build strategic relationships in the region. He will also continue his role as senior partner within private equity.
Marc Rowan, CEO at Apollo, said, “We have been building our presence across Asia-Pacific for many years and this appointment underscores the significant opportunities for growth still ahead. These are markets where banks still provide most savings products and drive credit formation.
“There is a dearth of yield options for institutional and individual investors, creating strong demand for our alternative strategies to serve as fixed income replacement. And on the asset management side, we are equally bullish on the growth potential of our Credit and Hybrid businesses as more and more companies turn to non-bank lending and capital solutions.”
Apollo’s investments in Asia-Pacific in the past few months include Australian CRE lender MaxCap, India’s JSW Cement and Singapore’s Global Scholls Group.
The firm brought in placement agent major Evercore’s former Asia-Pacific private fund group lead Ian Bell in June to head up its own fundraising activity in the region.
Apollo is said to be raising a $500m fund targeting investments in SPACs.
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