The target has 50 billion US Dollars of assets under management and attracted a swap shares offer

NYSE-listed private capital giant Apollo Global Management said it launched a swap share public offer on NYSE-listed Bridge Investment Group Holdings, a real estate asset manager that has resources worth 50 billion US Dollars, on the ground of an enterprise value of 1.5 billion (see here the press release).

Under the terms of the transaction, Bridge stockholders and Bridge OpCo unitholders will receive, at closing, 0.07081 shares of Apollo stock for each share of Bridge Class A common stock and each Bridge OpCo Class A common unit, respectively, valued by the parties at $11.50 per each share of Bridge Class A common stock and Bridge OpCo Class A common unit, respectively.

Upon the closing of the transaction, Bridge will operate as a standalone platform within Apollo’s asset management business, retaining its existing brand, management team and dedicated capital formation team. Bob Morse will become an Apollo Partner and lead Apollo’s real estate equity franchise.

Established in 2009, Bridge is active in residential and industrial real estate and other specialised real estate asset classes. Prior to this transaction, Morse acted as executive chairman and Jonathan Slagee as ceo. More than 300 seasoned professionals work for the company.

Morse said: “We are proud to join Apollo and its industry-leading team, which shares our commitment to performance and excellence. This transaction will allow the Bridge and Apollo teams to grow on the solid foundation that we have built since 2009 as we work to pursue significant value and impact for our investors and communities.”

Bridge will provide Apollo with immediate scale to its real estate equity platform and enhance the buyer’s origination capabilities in both equity and real estate lending as well as benefiting its growing suite of hybrid and real estate product offerings.

David Sambur, partner of Apollo and co-head of Equity, said: “We are pleased to announce this transaction with Bridge, which aligns perfectly with Apollo’s strategic objective of expanding our origination base in areas of our business that are growing but not yet at scale.”