Key Takeaways

  • Apollo deployed $155 billion across infrastructure over five years by operating without internal walls between private equity, credit, real estate, and infrastructure.
  • Instead of raising a dedicated fund and searching for mandate-compliant assets, Olivia Wassenaar's team finds high-conviction assets first and determines the funding vehicle second.
  • Apollo finances transactions by combining common equity, structured credit, LP co-investments, and its captive insurance balance sheet.
  • Borrowing across the infrastructure platform remains anchored at a conservative 30% to 35% loan-to-value ratio, concentrating on mid- and large-cap power and transport assets.

Sourcing the Asset Before Picking the Mandate

Most infrastructure managers begin with a fund mandate: target return, check size, geography, and instrument type. Deal teams spend years wedging market opportunities into those pre-set boxes, often walking away from high-conviction assets because the vehicle cannot digest them.

Apollo inverted that sequence. Olivia Wassenaar heads an infrastructure platform that deployed $155 billion over five years. She attributes that pace to the firm's flat internal structure. “So one of the hallmarks of Apollo is we have no walls, which is been the way the firm has operated since the beginning,” Wassenaar told Bruno Alves. Rather than letting fund vehicles dictate origination, Apollo starts with the transaction. “It's generally been partners of the firm source deals. We find really interesting opportunities. We get together a team to underwrite them.”

By eliminating silos between private equity, credit, and real estate, Apollo convenes cross-disciplinary teams as soon as an opportunity surfaces. “And what it allows us to do is when we find a good deal, have conversations across the platform to figure out, one, where it should sit, and, and two, how to fund it,” Wassenaar explained. “And then, again, we're sort of figuring out on the back end how to fund it, rather than starting with a fund, trying to find deals for the fund.”

Structuring Across Credit and the Insurance Balance Sheet

This asset-first approach depends on capital that can absorb different risk profiles. A standalone equity fund evaluating an infrastructure asset with heavy upfront capital expenditure might pass over dilution concerns. A pure credit fund would find the upside capped too low.

Apollo avoids this constraint by unbundling the financing. When Wassenaar evaluates mid- and large-cap targets, she draws structuring talent from across the firm. “I think that's part of the Apollo special sauce,” Wassenaar said. “And then not only are you bringing the capital there, but what you're also doing is making sure that you're bringing really bright minds in different parts of the business on structuring, on financing, and otherwise to make sure we're really crafting the best possible deal for our investors.”

Because Apollo directs an insurance balance sheet alongside equity funds and LP co-investors, the platform underwrites debt and equity simultaneously. If a target needs $3 billion, Apollo does not depend on bank syndication. The firm can place investment-grade debt on its insurance balance sheet, carve out structured credit, take equity in an infrastructure vehicle, and bring in institutional LPs for co-investment.

Running 30% to 35% LTV Without Portfolio Box-Checking

This flexibility reshapes portfolio construction. Many infrastructure funds rely on heavy borrowing to hit equity targets, pushing debt past 60% of enterprise value. Wassenaar takes the opposite path. Apollo keeps borrowing conservative, operating at a 30% to 35% loan-to-value ratio across its infrastructure transactions.

Maintaining a low debt burden requires Apollo to generate returns through operational execution and asset selection. Wassenaar focuses on macro themes across power and transport, where secular growth supports cash flows.

Apollo also avoids managing against rigid sub-sector quotas. Traditional managers often build portfolios like index funds, reserving set allocations for renewables, digital assets, or utilities. Apollo treats infrastructure opportunistically. If power assets offer the cleanest risk-adjusted pricing, capital concentrates there. Sourcing across equity and structured credit means the team never buys an overpriced asset just to meet an allocation target.

Why It Matters

Apollo's expansion signals that institutional capital is shifting away from narrow, single-strategy infrastructure funds toward integrated platforms with balance-sheet scale. When a sponsor underwrites both debt and equity in-house while funding through captive insurance capital, traditional equity-only funds face speed and pricing disadvantages. Sourcing power increasingly belongs to platforms that can engineer the entire capital stack internally.