Single-season revenue of 115 billion US dollars! Apollo Global Management Inc (APO.US) asset management scale surpasses the trillion-dollar mark for the first time. Q1 expenses and profits soar by 30%, reaching a historic high.

With the record-breaking influx of funds, alternative asset management giant Apollo Global Management Inc (APO.US) saw its assets under management surpass $1 trillion for the first time, achieving the target set by CEO Marc Rowan earlier this year. The company also announced earnings performance that exceeded Wall Street expectations. According to the company's statement, the New York-based alternative asset management firm saw an 8% year-on-year growth in adjusted net profits in the first quarter, reaching $1.21 billion, or $1.94 per share, beating analysts' average expectations of $1.88 per share. Revenue related to fees associated with asset management and financing arrangements increased significantly by 30% to $728 million, surpassing expectations and setting a new record. Rowan stated in the announcement, "Our performance in the first quarter sets a strong tone for the year." Boosted by this news, Apollo's stock price rose by 4% in pre-market trading. However, the cumulative decline for the year is still around 10%. During the quarter, Apollo saw total fund inflows of $115 billion, with cumulative inflows over the past 12 months reaching $300 billion. In comparison, their competitors Blackstone Inc. (BX.US) had fund inflows of $68.5 billion, while KKR (KKR.US) and Ares Management (ARES.US) raised $27.8 billion and $29.5 billion respectively. Apollo stated that the acquisition of UK insurance company Pension Insurance Corporation by their European platform Athora, as well as contributions from wealthy retail investors totaling $4 billion, drove the fund inflows for the quarter. In terms of business performance, Apollo's capital solutions business saw a 60% increase in fee income, covering direct lending, asset-backed financing, and opportunistic credit transactions. The assets generating management fees also increased by 40% to reach $836 billion. The company holds around $74 billion in undrawn capital, with about $55 billion having the potential to contribute management fees in the future. However, under the US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, the company recorded a net loss attributable to common shareholders of $1.9 billion for the quarter, mainly due to $2.1 billion in unrealized investment losses from its retirement services business. Different investment strategies showed mixed performance. Rowan noted that their growth DRIVE mixed value strategy saw a return rate of 4% for the quarter, the strongest performance, while the opportunistic credit strategy had a return rate of 2.5%. However, the direct lending fund had a return rate of only 0.5%, significantly lower than the 8.5% rate over the past 12 months, reflecting the performance pressure and market scrutiny the private credit sector has faced recently. Peers like Blue Owl (OWL.US) and KKR also reported negative returns in this area during the same period. Additionally, Apollo's flagship private equity strategy had a loss of 0.3%, and the 1% loss in the asset-backed financial strategy was attributed to a reduced contribution from the structured credit company Atlas SP Partners, which was previously reported to have risk exposure related to the MFS event. Apollo stated that exit performance fees for their flagship private equity and mixed fund investment portfolios will be prudently deferred to wait for an improvement in the trading environment. Looking ahead, after achieving the $1 trillion target, the company has set the next phase of its asset management scale goal to reach $1.5 trillion by 2029.