Apollo’s Atlas SP Launches $5B Credit Strategy With BNP Paribas

Atlas SP Partners, a warehouse finance and structured credit business backed by Apollo Global Management, has joined forces with BNP Paribas on a new credit strategy to which the French banking giant will commit $5 billion in funding.

The financing will support investment-grade, asset-backed credit originated by Apollo and Atlas, alongside a capital markets collaboration to support securitisations sourced by Apollo and Atlas issuer clients, Manhattan-based Apollo said in a release.

Following a wave of private debt funds announced in recent months, the partnership includes one of the largest-ever bilateral financings for directly originated credit assets, according to Apollo co-president Jim Zelter.

“Working hand-in-hand with BNP Paribas, this transaction shows how Apollo and Atlas continue to expand relationships with leading global financial institutions and builds on Apollo’s existing collaboration with BNP Paribas to provide inventory finance solutions through the Eliant platform,” Zelter said, referring to the partners’ supply chain financing venture launched in 2022.

Contact With GIC

Acquired last year via a takeover of Credit Suisse’s securitised products unit, Atlas is majority-owned by Apollo funds and has held talks with Singapore’s GIC about the sovereign fund potentially investing in the platform, Bloomberg reported last December.

One year ago, Atlas was part of an investor group that agreed to provide a $1.1 billion delayed-draw mortgage facility to US mall landlord Site Centres, Bloomberg said. In June of this year, Apollo disclosed a cornerstone capital commitment by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority that would enable Atlas to support $15 billion in new warehouse financing.

Apollo and its Athene retirement services unit formed Eliant Inventory Solutions with BNP Paribas as a platform to provide flexible financing for working capital and supply chain needs. The Paris-based group provides debt and receivables financing and structuring advisory, Athene serves as the primary capital provider, and Apollo acts as the investment manager.

BNP Paribas said the just-announced credit strategy would leverage the bank’s capabilities in securitisation structuring and distribution to support Atlas in financing the real economy, while complementing the client franchise and growth objectives of both firms.

“We are pleased to deepen our collaboration with Apollo and Atlas through this strategic transaction and look forward to further building our business with them both,” said Olivier Osty, head of corporate and institutional banking global markets.

Booming Asset Class

Apollo’s latest tie-up comes after the fund manager led by Marc Rowan confirmed the wind-down of its Asia real estate equity fund business to Mingtiandi earlier this year. The company manages $696 billion in assets worldwide.

Private credit as an asset class has nearly doubled in size in Asia Pacific over the last five years, according to data provider Preqin, with Li Ka-shing’s CK Asset Holdings recently entering the space through its Orion3 fund management arm.

Orion3 teamed with Manhattan-based Muzinich & Co on an infrastructure and real assets private debt strategy targeting a size of between $500 million and $1 billion, the partners announced earlier this month. The fund has raised more than $120 million in seed capital and will initially focus on debt financing and capital solutions for middle-market infrastructure and real asset firms in Australia, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Britain and Canada.

Bloomberg reported last month that TPG’s Twin Brook Capital Partners had closed its fifth direct lending fund with $3.9 billion in capital commitments from investors including GIC, Allianz, South Korea’s National Pension Service and the World Bank.

In May, Goldman Sachs hit a final close of West Street Real Estate Credit Partners IV and related vehicles with over $7 billion of lending capacity to deploy globally, including in APAC. That milestone came two months after Goldman and Abu Dhabi sovereign giant Mubadala formed a $1 billion partnership to invest in APAC private debt plays, including in real estate.