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(Bloomberg) — Apollo Global Management Inc. (APO) agreed to buy Bridge Investment Group Holdings Inc. (BRDG) for about $1.5 billion in an all-stock deal as the asset manager expands in real estate.
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Apollo agreed to pay 0.07081 of its stock for every Bridge share held, according to a statement Monday. That values Bridge at about $11.50 per share. The Salt Lake City-based firm manages about $50 billion in assets in real estate products, targeting institutional and wealth clients.
The acquisition is the latest indication that the world’s largest asset managers believe the worst of the pandemic-fueled slump in commercial real estate is over. Last month, Blackstone Inc. President Jon Gray called the bottom in the global office market and said valuations were poised for a rebound.
The deal fits in with Apollo’s desires to grow its wealth business and broaden its real estate capabilities, Moody’s Ratings analyst Neal Epstein said in an emailed statement. Bridge is one of the largest private equity real estate managers with $22 billion in fee-paying assets under management, he said.
Bridge, founded in 2009, invests in a broad array of real estate and adjacent assets ranging from renewable energy infrastructure to mortgage-backed securities. It went public in 2021 and reached a peak market capitalization of nearly $2.8 billion later that year, but the shares have since slumped.
Robert Morse, Bridge’s executive chairman, will become an Apollo partner and head of its real estate equity franchise as part of the deal. Bridge will operate as a standalone platform within Apollo’s asset-management business.
The acquisition is expected to be completed in the third quarter.
In January, Apollo announced a deal to purchase Argo Infrastructure Partners to add $6 billion in assets, and last week its affiliate, Redding Ridge Asset Management, agreed to buy collateralized loan obligation manager Irradiant Partners LP.
(Updates with context and background on firms beginning in paragraph three.)
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