Apollo: from buyout king to the credit machine doubling down on India

Apollo Global Management began in 1990 as a scrappy distressed-buyout shop founded by Leon Black, Josh Harris and Marc Rowan, former bankers at the collapsed Drexel Burnham Lambert. Three and a half decades later it is one of the world's largest alternative asset managers, with around $1.05 trillion in assets under management as of June 30, 2026 — and it expects to reach about $1.5 trillion by the end of 2029.

The story of modern Apollo is a story of credit. While its private equity arm made it famous with deals like Harrah's Entertainment and Caesars, today credit is roughly four times the size of the buyout business, managing more than $749 billion against $128 billion in private equity and $61 billion in real assets. The firm raises and deploys at extraordinary scale — $38 billion of fresh capital arrived in the second quarter of 2026 alone, and its capital-solutions arm syndicated $30 billion in the first half of the year. One recent landmark: a $35 billion financing for an AI data-centre platform, the largest private-credit financing ever recorded.

India is a declared growth market. Apollo manages about $2 billion in the country, mostly in private credit, and plans to double that to $4 billion over three years. Matthew Michelini, head of Apollo's Asia-Pacific business, says the firm is targeting infrastructure, financial services, leading industrials and supply-chain finance — sectors where India's banks cannot fund the entire growth story. Apollo also plans to double its India investment team to around 50 professionals, focused on credit and supply-chain finance.

The firm's India track record is already visible. Apollo led a $750 million debt refinancing for Adani Group's Mumbai international airport, backed JSW Cement and Hero FinCorp, and in September 2026 provided a $585 million hybrid financing to The Executive Centre, the Asia-focused flexible-office operator. Celia Yan, Apollo's partner and co-head of APAC credit and hybrid, described the firm as a "partner of choice" for bespoke capital solutions — the kind of structured financing Indian conglomerates increasingly seek for expansion and overseas acquisitions.

Apollo is led by Chairman and CEO Marc Rowan, with Jim Zelter, Scott Kleinman and John Zito as presidents. The firm serves pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and a growing base of high-net-worth investors, and its insurance affiliates, including Athene, give it unusual balance-sheet firepower.

For Indian founders, Apollo's message is clear: private credit is becoming a first-class source of growth capital in India. The firm writes large cheques — hundreds of millions — so it is relevant to late-stage startups and mid-market companies rather than early teams. But its expanding India team, now growing fast, is the group to watch; as Apollo's credit franchise deepens locally, the structures it pioneers will filter down into the broader venture-debt and growth-lending ecosystem.