The ‘New Apollo’ Gets More Flexible and Techie

The computers are coming for a fairly untouched corner of finance.

Private markets are harder to automate than stocks and bonds, but “make no mistake,” said the chief executive of Apollo Global Management: Change is coming.

“The innovations we are seeing in fintech, which have taken place across trading markets and other types of markets are coming to alternative finance,” Marc Rowan told analysts this week. “We view this as a significant opportunity, rather than a threat, as I believe we are well-prepared for it.”

Several weeks ago, Apollo agreed to buy a stake in Motive Partners, a boutique private equity firm that focuses on financial technology. That firm expects a market opportunity to grow to $10 trillion over the next decade, and is now the workplace of Blythe Masters, who recently led a blockchain company and is also known for her years of work at JPMorgan. (You can find my recent conversation with Masters about the investment universe ahead of her here.)

Apollo has also partnered with blockchain company Figure, which will help Rowan’s firm implement the new-age technology through “the investment life cycle, particularly focused on securitization,” he said.

“These are not pie in the sky,” Rowan said in a conference call. “These are real, tangible things that will have immediate cost benefits, data-collection benefits and other benefits to our business.”

And when it comes to the future of work: “It’s the new Apollo,” David Sambur, the co-head of private equity, told me in a Bloomberg Television interview. “Flexibility is the name of the game.”

“We’ve proven throughout Covid that we could be highly effective,” he said. “In fact, if you look at the bottom line, more effective than we’ve ever been in our history through a flexible work environment.”

“Businesses that just want to go back to the way things were are missing a huge opportunity to learn from what’s gone on over the last 18 months,” he said.

Carlyle’s New Awards

Kewsong Lee’s firm this year had already made a decision to tie worker compensation to diversity goals. Now, Carlyle has separately made a $2 million pool available in an award to more than 50 employees, across different levels of the firm, who are excelling in diversity, equity and inclusion goals. Those awards were given out this week.

And while Carlyle is considering expanding that award in future years, “it’s not about the dollars here, it’s about the recognition, and celebrating contributions while inspiring others to stand up to take more of a leadership role in driving DE&I,” Sandra Horbach, managing director and co-head of U.S. buyout and growth, told me in an interview.

Almost 200 people were nominated for the accolade. Horbach says she sees the opportunity for more Wall Street firms to add similar incentives. If you’re thinking of doing something like this, I’ll definitely want to know, so keep me posted.

More on Wall Street

• In an exclusive interview, SEC Chair Gary Gensler gave my colleagues a firm overview of his priorities, particularly when it comes to cryptocurrencies.
• Byron Trott has amassed a $3.6 billion fortune, Bloomberg’s Tom Maloney reports. That’s after banking some of the world’s richest families.
• The compensation awards that have made Elon Musk the envy of corporate chieftains are catching on: Here’s the wealth rising among CEOs, as told by Bloomberg’s Anders Melin.
• Neel Kashkari’s warning on the job recovery.
• Robinhood rebounds, but pares its surge after investors file to sell shares. Some of its biggest backers are sitting on massive gains.
• BlackRock and Wells Fargo push back their return-to-work plans, while there’s an uproar of confusion as other firms hold to their prior plans and some stumble along the way.
• Here’s how a new Wall Street is forming on Twitter, for Bloomberg Businessweek magazine by Katie Greifeld.

Hoping you have a great week ahead of you. As always, my door is always open to new paths of coverage, tips are always welcome at [email protected].