By Chibuike Oguh
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) said on Thursday its first-quarter adjusted net income rose 26% year-on-year, driven mostly by growth in management fees as well as earnings from its flagship annuities business.
Adjust net income rose to $1.1 billion, up from $825 million a year earlier. That translated to adjusted net income per share of $1.72, which came in slightly lower than the average Wall Street analyst estimate of $1.78, according to LSEG data.
Fee-related earnings, which Apollo generate from asset management fees in addition to fees for arranging financing for deals, rose 16% to $462 million. Its total assets under management rose 12% to $671 billion.
Apollo's earnings from investing the capital accumulated by its annuities business, Athene, jumped nearly 19% to $817 million due to strong inflows and higher interest rates.
Asset sales from Apollo's private equity portfolio "continues to be prudently delayed amid a challenging exit environment", causing net profit to be just $21 million, up from $8 million a year earlier.
During the quarter, Apollo's corporate credit funds appreciated 2.9%, debt and equity funds rose 4%, and private equity funds gained 2.8%. The private equity funds of its peers Blackstone (NYSE:BX) rose 3.4%, KKR & Co (NYSE:KKR) Inc added 5%, while Carlyle's were flat.
Apollo's net income under generally accepted accounting principles surged nearly 39% to $1.4 billion, driven mostly by growth in net investment income from Athene.
Apollo amassed unspent capital of $65 billion, deployed $57 billion of capital, while debt originations reached a quarterly record of $40 billion. The company declared a dividend of 46.25 cents.