Standard Chartered Acquires Minority Stake in Apterra, an Apollo Platform Specializing in Infrastructure Debt Origination

Agreement to Accelerate Capital Formation for Next-Gen Infrastructure and Transition Assets

Apollo and Standard Chartered announced a long-term strategic partnership to support and accelerate financing for infrastructure, clean transition and renewable energy globally, leveraging the leading origination and distribution capabilities of both firms.

As part of the agreement, Standard Chartered and Apollo Clean Transition Capital (“ACT Capital”), a sustainable investing platform, plan to contribute up to US$3 billion of clean energy and transition financing across a range of asset classes and sectors.

Origination for the partnership’s financing activities will be primarily undertaken by Apterra, an Apollo-owned platform that focuses on originating, structuring and deploying debt capital to execute infrastructure transactions globally. Standard Chartered has acquired a minority stake in the platform and will support its investment origination.

Jim Zelter, Apollo Asset Management Co-President, said, “The global industrial renaissance is creating unprecedented capital demands across next-gen infrastructure, sustainable power and other transition assets. This new agreement should accelerate our mutual financing and investment activity in these areas, and we are thrilled to do it in partnership with Standard Chartered, an important and long-time banking partner to Apollo’s franchise.”

Bill Winters, Group Chief Executive, Standard Chartered PLC said, “This partnership with Apollo, a market leader in alternative asset management, is a great opportunity to leverage our collective sector expertise and innovative mindset to help finance sustainable growth. Standard Chartered and Apollo have complementary origination and distribution capabilities, which increase the scale of the financing we can jointly deploy, and the size of the projects in which we can participate. We are very pleased to build on our long-term partnership with Apollo to both expand our existing geographical coverage and mobilise capital to these critical parts of the global economy.”

More Partnership Details

Apollo’s Clean Transition Capital strategy seeks to meet a wide range of clean energy and climate capital needs across credit and equities. Over the past 5 years, Apollo has deployed more than US$40 billion¹ into energy transition and climate-related investments and believes the demand for capital in these areas will scale materially in the coming years.

Samuel Feinstein, Apollo Partner and President of ACT Capital, said, “We believe this partnership with Standard Chartered will serve as a significant accelerant to the growth of Apollo’s Clean Transition business and support its broader Infrastructure Credit platform, which are critical components of our firm’s strategic growth plans. We are equally pleased to welcome Standard Chartered as an aligned equity partner in the growing Apterra platform and believe we can expand our work together over time to serve the evolving needs of our global client bases. Collectively, ACT Capital and Apterra represent significant opportunities for Apollo and Standard Chartered to access climate and infrastructure credit.”

Apterra, an Apollo affiliate founded in 2023, has executed more than US$4.8 billion of transactions and is positioned to increase its already robust growth trajectory with the strategic equity support of Standard Chartered. Apterra is led by industry veterans Ralph Cho, co-CEO, and Michael Pantelogianis, co-CEO, alongside a highly experienced management team.

Standard Chartered, one of the world’s leading cross-border and wealth management banks, is among the top infrastructure lenders in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, with a strong and growing presence in the renewables sector.

Henrik Raber, Global Head, Global Banking at Standard Chartered, said: “With the global growth in infrastructure financing, and our strong presence in the sector, we are delighted to partner with ACT Capital, participate in Apterra and collaborate with the Apollo team. This is an exciting opportunity alongside our existing advisory and financing capabilities.”

As part of the partnership, Standard Chartered will provide a senior secured credit facility to ACT Capital to fund project finance and infrastructure loans. Financial terms for Standard Chartered’s purchase of a minority equity interest in Apterra are not disclosed. PJT Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to Standard Chartered.

Source: Apollo