Apollo Global Management delivered its strongest ever financial year in 2025, with full-year revenue reaching $32 billion, up nearly 23%, and CEO Marc Rowan declaring “record origination activity exceeding $300 billion.” Q4 adjusted EPS came in at $2.47, well above the $2.04 consensus. Dividends were raised 10% to $2.25 per share. By any traditional measure, it looked like a Business firing on all cylinders.
Then came the redemption crisis. Apollo’s $15 billion private credit fund received withdrawal requests totalling 11.2% of shares — more than twice the fund’s 5% quarterly redemption limit. Apollo chose to distribute roughly 45 cents on the dollar to those seeking to exit, honouring its cap rather than relaxing it as rival Blackstone had done.
Shares fell more than 3% in premarket trading on the news and are now down roughly 24% for the year, with the stock sitting around $109.92 against a 52-week high of $157.
The episode has exposed a structural tension at the heart of the private credit boom. These funds hold illiquid corporate loans that cannot be easily sold when investor withdrawals arrive simultaneously. When the macro environment deteriorates — as it has, between the Iran war’s oil price impact and a hawkish Federal Reserve — retail and institutional investors rush for the exits simultaneously, and managers face an impossible choice between fairness to remaining investors and honouring the expectations of those who want out.
Apollo has maintained that its 5% cap “preserves value” for investors, but the market’s reaction suggests investors see it differently. Blue Owl is down more than 41% this year. Blackstone’s credit fund has recorded net withdrawals for the first time. The broader private credit industry, now at $1.8 trillion in assets, is facing its most significant stress test since its explosive growth over the past decade, and the results are far from reassuring for those who sold it as a stable alternative to public markets.