Apollo: The Billion-Dollar Giant Acquiring Atlético de Madrid

Atlético de Madrid has a new owner: Apollo Global Management, one of the giants of international finance—or, in football terms, a true "great". Essentially, a Champions League team. Based in New York and founded in 1990 by Leon Black, Josh Harris, and Marc Rowan, this firm—which manages around a trillion US dollars—now owns 57% of the rojiblanco club's shares.

Their roadmap is clear: to make money. Like any investment manager, their goal is to attract their clients' savings and offer returns superior to stock markets. Their arrival at the Metropolitano follows the largest operation carried out by a fund in a Spanish club.

The company is a multinational listed on the New York Stock Exchange with an approximate valuation of 66 billion euros. Following the announcement, its shares opened negatively on Wall Street. As with other major listed firms, its shareholding is dominated by investment fund managers, including Capital Group (8.5%), Vanguard (8.2%), and BlackRock (5.8%). However, the three founders maintain individual stakes ranging from 5.9% to 6.6%. The new investor in Atlético de Madrid has offices in strategic cities across North America, Europe—including Madrid—and Asia.

The short answer, as with most operations of this type, is simple: to gain profits. Private equity firms routinely execute such moves, making them key players in numerous industrial sectors.

Their strategy typically has a time horizon of about five years. They have substantial resources to acquire companies—listed or not—improve their profitability, and, after that period, sell their stake at a higher price. In this way, they return the capital provided by their investors along with attractive interest, above market returns.

These firms are particularly active in the infrastructure sector, although in recent years they have expanded their influence into sectors such as real estate, health, energy, and more recently, sports.

Apollo's arrival in the Madrid district of San Blas-Canillejas is not their first foray into the world of football. The firm has already invested over 15 billion euros in sports-related operations, many aimed at financing the signings of major stars.

Through its subsidiary Apollo Sports Capital, focused exclusively on the sports sector, the company has financed several Premier League clubs, including Nottingham Forest, to which it granted a loan of over 90 million euros. However, Atlético de Madrid has become its most significant investment, with a majority stake.

The Apollo Sports Capital team is led by its CEO, Al Tylis, alongside co-managers Rob Givone and Lee Solomon, and Strategy Director Sam Porter. Their goal is to invest in credit and hybrid opportunities—which combine debt and equity—in clubs, leagues, sports facilities, media, and international events such as the Mutua Madrid Open or the Miami Open.

The Madrid club highlights that its new infrastructures were one of the main attractions for Apollo when closing the deal. The fund has also announced its participation in "significant infrastructure projects," including the creation of the City of Sport, a sports and entertainment complex located next to the Metropolitano Stadium.

"The aim of this project is to establish itself as a world-class destination for sport, leisure, culture, and community life. Thanks to Apollo's extensive experience in the sports, media, and entertainment sectors, Apollo Sports Capital seeks to develop a dynamic, transformative, and multidisciplinary urban space serving the people of Madrid," the club states.

In the Spanish market, Apollo is actively involved in the takeover bid launched by Neinor for Aedas, intending to merge both companies and create the country's largest real estate developer. Alongside Neinor, the fund aims to acquire 79% of the shares that Castlelake holds in Aedas Homes.

In the tourism sector, its entry into the Spanish hotel industry occurred in 2019, when it sought to form a broad portfolio of assets. This strategy culminated in the purchase of six hotels, which it now seeks to sell after the investment's maturation period.

Apollo also controls 49% of Primafrío, one of Spain's leading transport and logistics groups, which it accessed after the Murcia-based company—founded by the Conesa family—cancelled its IPO. In the financial sector, it acquired Evo Banco from Novagalicia in 2013 and sold it six years later to Bankinter.

Among its most notable operations is the purchase of 85% of Altamira, the company responsible for managing Banco Santander's problematic assets and credits, for around 700 million euros. It later sold its stake to the Italian doBank, controlled by the Fortress fund, in a common private equity manoeuvre. It also participated in the battle for the ITV services company Applus, although it withdrew in the face of offers from TDR and I Squared.