Associate, Private IG

Position Overview

Investment professional working within Apollo's Private Investment Grade team, part of the Global Investment Grade business, focused on the origination, structuring, underwriting, execution, and ongoing management of illiquid investments across developed markets. The team has a format-agnostic mandate covering 4(a)(2) private placements, bilateral and club senior secured loans and forward-flow structures, infrastructure and project finance, and secondary purchases, with the objective of earning excess spread over comparable public investment grade for the additional complexity and illiquidity.

The Associate will focus on valuation, transaction modelling, deal execution, and maintaining portfolio positions including ongoing relationships with issuers. The role works cross-functionally with portfolio managers, the IG sector analysts and Performing Credit analyst team, High Grade Corporate Solutions, Apterra, ABF, legal, compliance, and operations, and combines elements of principal investing and structured finance. It requires a high level of technical ability, analytical rigour, and creativity.

• Support origination, structuring, underwriting, and execution of private investment grade transactions across developed markets, working with deal team members and counter parties including Apollo's IG sector analysts, Performing Credit analyst team, Corporate Solutions, Apterra, ABF, Hybrid Value, risk, legal, and insurance solutions groups; external advisors (accountants, consultants, industry advisors, investment banks); and counter parties (corporate executives, lenders, agents, investment banks).
• Build and maintain historical and projected financial models of companies (valuation analysis) and transactions (transaction cashflow analysis, scenario and downside cases, structural waterfalls) to support origination and underwriting.
• Conduct independent fundamental credit analysis on new transactions, including financial statement analysis, capital structure assessment, industry evaluation, and management quality review; prepare and present investment recommendations to the Investment Committee, including credit memos with clearly articulated risk and reward assessments, relative value positioning, and covenant analysis.
• Assign and maintain internal credit ratings for new and existing holdings, with clear documentation of rating rationale and watch and trigger considerations; assess relative value versus comparable public investment grade alternatives, incorporating spread, structure, covenant, and liquidity considerations.
• Evaluate deal terms, financial covenants, and legal documentation; support covenant negotiation alongside internal and external legal counsel with a focus on appropriate downside protection; manage end-to-end deal execution from initial screening through closing, coordinating with agents, borrowers, lead banks, internal legal, compliance, and operations.
• Develop fluency across documentation conventions relevant to private investment grade and standard market terms across issuer types and structures.
• Partner with High Grade Corporate Solutions, Apterra, ABF, and other Apollo origination channels on evaluating and executing deal flow; build familiarity with the bank, agent, sponsor, and direct issuer landscape across developed markets to contribute to pipeline discussions and deal screening; participate in relationship-building with banks, agents, and issuers alongside senior team members.
• Maintain assigned portfolio positions through financial performance tracking, covenant compliance testing, amendment and waiver evaluation, and early identification of credit deterioration; act as a primary point of contact for issuers post-close on monitoring requests, amendments, consents, and routine engagement.
• Update internal credit ratings as borrower circumstances evolve; prepare watchlist recommendations, rating action rationale, and amendment and waiver evaluations for portfolio manager and IC review.
• Coordinate with the IG sector analysts and Performing Credit analyst team on sector coverage, shared issuer analysis, and cross-market relative value assessments; leverage IG sector and Performing Credit research views and data to inform private investment grade underwriting, pricing, and relative value analysis; contribute to unified IG research output where relevant, including sector reviews, watchlist discussions, and thematic presentations.
• Partner with teams across the broader Apollo credit platform (Hybrid Credit, ABF, Performing Credit, FIG) where transactions or credits span multiple products.
• Ensure analytical work and deal recommendations incorporate the relevant regulatory considerations across US (NAIC/SVO, RBC, Schedule
  
  D) and European (Solvency II, matching adjustment, fundamental spread) mandates; flag balance-sheet constraints (concentration limits, quality thresholds, admitted asset and matching adjustment treatment) during underwriting; coordinate with internal…