Apollo Global Management has spent the better part of two decades courting Abu Dhabi. On Monday it got a little more official about it.
The firm announced a strategic minority investment in Mubadala Capital, the alternative asset management arm of Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala Investment Company. Apollo joins the founders of Silver Rock Financial as an equity holder in Mubadala Capital, while Mubadala Investment Company remains the majority shareholder.
Additional strategic investors will also come in as minority shareholders. Together with Apollo, they are expected to commit an aggregate of $5 billion to Mubadala Capital's investment strategies at initial close.
Financial terms weren't disclosed. CNBC, citing people familiar with the matter, reports Apollo's stake could be 10%.
What Apollo Is Actually Buying
Mubadala Capital, founded in 2011, is a global alternative asset management platform that manages and administers over $755 billion in assets for clients and limited partners through its core alternatives business and strategic partnerships. Its core alternatives businesses manage more than $60 billion across five investment strategies.
For Mubadala Capital, the Apollo money helps broaden its investor base, expand its strategies and chase new opportunities worldwide. For Apollo, it's another brick in a wall it has been building in Abu Dhabi for 15 years.
The new investment builds on a multibillion-dollar partnership Apollo established with Mubadala Investment Company, first in 2022 and extended in 2024, according to CNBC. The firms also formed a $2.5 billion joint venture in 2023 to co-invest in global private credit opportunities over a five-year horizon.
"This investment will deepen our alignment and strengthen our mutual commitment to each other's success, while creating significant opportunities to reach a broader global investor base," said John Zito, Co-President of Apollo Asset Management.
Apollo had approximately $1.05 trillion of assets under management as of June 30, 2026. As of that same date, it held $25.4 billion of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, plus $5.6 billion of available funds from the AGM credit facility, Athene credit facility and Athene liquidity facility. In other words, it can afford to write checks like this one.
CNBC noted Apollo has made similar investments in other asset management platforms, including Diameter Capital Partners in October 2022 and Motive Partners in July 2021.
Everyone in Asset Management Is Merging With Everyone
This isn't just an Apollo story. Global asset management M&A volume reached $53.8 billion year to date in 2026, according to Dealogic, as cited by The Financial Times in its August report.
The driver is familiar: asset managers want greater scale, faster AUM growth and better capabilities. Independent boutiques and smaller managers are feeling the squeeze and turning to specialized strategies and technology adoption to navigate the consolidation wave.
Oliver Wyman expects the pressure to keep building. Firms need cost efficiencies, broader capabilities, wider distribution networks and secure capital access, and that combination tends to push more of them toward the altar.
APO Stock Price Activity: Apollo Global Management shares were trading higher by 3.44% at $116.71 at the time of publication on Monday, according to market data.
