UPDATE 1-Apollo's fourth-quarter profits double
* Q4 after-tax ENI per share $1.69 vs Street view of $1.05
* Q4 cash delivered from carried interest $562 mln vs $278 mln in Q4 2011
* Total assets under management $113 bln as of the end of 2012
(Adds CEO comment, details)
NEW YORK, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Apollo Global Management LLC reported a 95 percent rise in quarterly earnings, as strong gains in private equity profits, driven by asset sales, more than compensated for a drop in income in its credit investment business.
Credit investments, such as non-performing loans, distressed debt and fixed income, now account for more than half of Apollo's assets but it was private equity that put in a strong showing in the quarter as the firm sold stakes in companies.
"Our results for the fourth quarter of 2012 completed an outstanding year for Apollo and we believe further demonstrate the significant earnings and cash generating power inherent in our integrated global investment platform," Apollo's co-founder and chief executive Leon Black said in a statement.
Apollo's private equity business was boosted by the sale of stakes in chemical producer LyondellBasell Industries NV and cable operator Charter Communications Inc, as well as a special dividend from LyondellBasell.
In the fourth quarter it also booked its $975 million sale of retailer Smart & Final Holdings Corp to Ares Management.
The New York-based alternative asset manager said on Friday economic net income (ENI), a measure of profitability that takes into account the mark-to-market valuation of its assets, was $696.9 million in the fourth quarter, up from $357 million a year ago.
This translated into after-tax ENI per share of $1.69 versus the average estimate of $1.05 of analysts in a Thomson Reuters poll.
ENI in its private equity business was $609 million, up from $232.4 million a year ago, while ENI in the credit segment was $90 million compared to $139.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2011.
While the credit business delivered more cash from carried interest in the fourth quarter of 2012 compared to a year ago, the value of its portfolio failed to appreciate more than it did last year, leading to a 36 percent drop in its ENI.
Cash delivered from carried interest, Apollo's slice of its fund profits, was $562 million across all segments, up from $278 million in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Apollo's shares are trading at their highest level since the investment firm, which was founded in 1990 by Black and former Drexel Burnham colleagues Joshua Harris and Marc Rowan, went public in March 2011. The stock ended trading on Thursday at $22.15, a 47 percent rise in the last 12 months versus a 12 percent rise in the S&P 500 Index.
With a net worth estimated by Forbes at $3.5 billion as of the end of September, Black, 61, is a prolific art collector and was revealed last year as the mystery buyer who paid a record $120 million for Edvard Munch's masterpiece "The Scream."
Apollo's total assets under management were $113 billion at the end of December, compared with $110 billion at the end of September.
Apollo declared a distribution of $1.05 per share for the fourth quarter, bringing full-year distributions to $1.94 per share.
(Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Chizu Nomiyama)