Apollo Global Management’s initial public offering priced at $19, the top of the $17 to $19 range, according to people familiar with the matter.
The price level marks a strong finish for a deal that took both time and patience to complete. As recently as Monday, for instance, market volatility was prompting some investors to hold back on setting specific price parameters on their Apollo orders, making it difficult for underwriters to predict where the price would settle, said the people familiar with the matter .
But with stocks trading solidly Tuesday, some of those parties placed stock orders with Apollo’s underwriters at the higher end of the range, the people familiar with the matter said.
The IPO raised $565.4 million. The company sold 29.76 million shares, against the 26.3 million that was expected.
Earlier in the day, there was consideration of pricing Apollo above its stated range at $20, said two of these people, but management and the underwriters ultimately opted not to move that aggressively. At $19 per share, Apollo's implied valuation is $7.1 billion.
The company first filed registration documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2008, only to see its plans scuttled by the financial recession.
More recently, its road show launch was delayed by the environmental disasters and subsequent market turmoil in Japan.
Separately, on "The Strategy Session" Tuesday, I reported that Apollo president Marc Spilker had received 2010 compensation of about $30 million. In fact, Spilker’s pay was higher: he received $28 million in option awards, according to a regulatory filing, and nearly $50 million total pay, including the option awards, plus stock awards of about $21 million and a base salary of $166,667.
Spilker’s options won’t generate immediate income, however; they’ll vest over the course of years.
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*This post has been updated.
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