Athene USA

Jim Belardi, the co-founder and Executive Chairman, retains the Chief Investment Officer role and oversees asset allocation direction. The firm's credit assets are managed by Apollo Global Management, Athene's parent company, under a long-term investment management agreement. The Apollo integration means investment origination, underwriting, and monitoring are performed by Apollo's credit platform, with Athene's internal team focused on asset-liability matching and portfolio risk oversight.

Deal flow originates predominantly through Apollo Global Management's credit-creation engine. Apollo's direct-lending, commercial real estate, and structured-credit teams source loans and investments, with Athene frequently participating as the primary institutional buyer. This captive sourcing model gives Athene access to deal pipelines that independent insurers cannot replicate. The firm also acquires asset portfolios through block acquisitions of other insurers' retirement liabilities.

Apollo and Athene merged in 2022, consolidating a relationship that had existed since Athene's founding. Apollo now operates as Athene's parent company and exclusive investment manager. The structure eliminates the principal-agent friction typical of insurer-to-asset-manager arrangements — Athene effectively serves as Apollo's permanent-capital funding vehicle, with Apollo keeping the spread between Athene's actuarial liability costs and the yields Apollo can generate on the asset side.

The portfolio is concentrated in fixed-income and credit assets, with significant exposure to investment-grade corporate debt, structured credit, commercial real estate loans, and residential mortgages. The firm maintains a highly liquid asset portfolio for short-duration liability management alongside longer-duration, higher-yield credit positions. Commercial real estate lending has included properties in New York, Massachusetts, and Florida, with exposure also extending to UK residential mortgages through Foundation Home Loans.

Athene's liability base comes from fixed-annuity policyholders, built through organic retail annuity sales and institutional block acquisitions of existing annuity portfolios from other insurers. This provides a stable, contractually committed funding source that is not subject to investor redemptions or quarterly capital calls. The permanent-capital structure is central to Apollo's ability to hold credit assets through cycles.

Athene typically participates in direct credit investments and co-investment structures rather than committing to Apollo-managed commingled funds as a traditional limited partner. In cases where Apollo raises third-party credit funds, Athene may co-invest alongside those vehicles on a deal-by-deal basis. This preference for direct exposure gives Athene tailored portfolio construction aligned with its specific asset-liability requirements.

No. Athene is an insurance company and a subsidiary of a publicly traded alternative asset manager. The firm writes annuity contracts and manages policyholder capital — it is not a family office, and no individual or family owns or controls the entity. The confusion may arise from its Bermuda domicile and its captive relationship with Apollo, which can resemble the private investment structures of some sophisticated family offices.