So What Kind of Investor Is Apollo Management?
Today the New York Times ran a story on Apollo not unlike the one I wrote last week. The main difference (aside from this ridiculous photo illustration) is the fact that Leon Black actually spoke with the Times. In the story, he offers a few vague answers to accusations made by both the peHUB article and the Times reporter. Linens N Things wasn’t that big of an investment. Dividend recaps “are what’s best for our investors.” The firm “underestimated” the housing market downturn. Et cetera. No mention of the firm’s IPO. No mention of the performance of Apollo’s debt investments. However, Black does offer the sound byte, “Private equity is dead,” perhaps to explain away his firm’s return-killing performance of late. The best line in the 3000 word story is Apollo’s response to this stated death of private equity: “We’ve totally turned into a bond house,” he declares. Reminds me of what Josh Harris said at
