The divestment drops Apollo's interest in Challenger to 9.9%
King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) has coached Apollo Global Management on the block trade of 70.6 million ordinary shares in Challenger Limited.
The shares worth $460m were divested to institutional investors through an underwritten bookbuild settled on Monday. As a result, Apollo’s stake in Challenger slips from 20.% to 9.9%.
According to KWM lead partner Mark Vanderneut, the proceeds from the trade will “enable the redeployment of capital to other growth opportunities”. Nonetheless, Apollo and Challenger will continue to work together on an asset origination and distribution partnership, among other initiatives.
Challenger Life maintains access to Apollo’s direct asset origination capabilities in line with the asset origination partnership established last November. Moreover, Challenger has served as the exclusive distributor of Apollo’s Aligned Alternatives strategy in Australia.
“Challenger and Apollo have developed a collaborative partnership that supports our broader growth strategy. We look forward to continuing this relationship and pursuing a range of initiatives to deliver value for Challenger shareholders, including through asset origination and distribution of Apollo’s high-quality products in Australia. Apollo’s re-evaluation of its investment in our business will also significantly increase Challenger’s free float and improve trading liquidity”, Challenger managing director and CEO Nick Hamilton said in a market announcement.
Vanderneut worked on the deal with support from solicitors Katherine Chork and Gillian Xu, as well as law graduate Dylan Gardiner. Senior associate Amanda Kazacos provided tax advice.
