You may have heard that alternative asset managers are making big bets on the property market. This is seen in all manner of ways, including several new technology platforms, mergers in the asset management space and the rapid rollout of new limited liquidity funds designed to attract mass affluent investors. Those who push for the “democratization of alternatives” are going before councilors to make it happen.

Leading this effort is Stephanie Drescher, Apollo's group head of customer and product solutions. Apollo Global Management is a frontier household name in the investment management business. The firm, recently added to the S&P 500, manages more than $700 billion in private investments. The wealth channel is only one part of this volume, but the firm has ambitions. In the past three years, Apollo has spent $1 billion on the effort, growing its in-house wealth team to 140 employees.

“We saw an opportunity to complement our mature and highly significant institutional relationships with new ones in global wealth, for example, wire, private banks, RIAs, independent broker/dealers and family offices,” said Drescher. “I have spent the last few years focusing on building these relationships as we build and grow the global wealth platform.”

Apollo has increased its annual fundraising pace from the wealth channel globally to more than $10 billion, raising $27 billion and developing 30 investment vehicles ranging from traditional drawdown structures to newer semi- liquid across all credit, equity and real asset classes.

“Prior to making a strategic commitment to wealth, we offered alternatives on a limited, episodic basis to advisors and their clients through traditional withdrawal products,” said Drescher. “Flash to today and we have greatly expanded this access through a diverse set of permanent, semi-liquid solutions and other innovative structures. With individuals, our focus is to create opportunities that ultimately deliver excess return per unit of risk, create portfolios of solutions that will help clients meet their goals, and then provide access points that meet the needs of the respective buyer .

By 2029, Apollo has set a target of doubling the size of its in-house wealth team, raising $30 billion annually from the wealth channel globally and achieving $150 billion in AUM for its products with in the center of the property, which can represent up to half of the company's annual income. raising capital from third parties.

Drescher, who has an undergraduate degree from Bernard College and an MBA from Columbia University, has a long history in the alternative investment business. She joined Apollo in 2004 and, prior to that, spent 10 years with JPMorgan Chase, working primarily in its alternative investments group.

“I was drawn to Apollo for many of the reasons that make it such a vibrant place today. The entrepreneurial spirit, commitment to innovation, and meritocratic culture—these qualities distinguished me then and still shape my daily experience,” said Drescher. “I could say that the firm was on a path to help redefine the alternatives industry, a strategy at a time.”

But before that, she said it was her family that had the biggest influence on her career.

“The first person who inspired my interest in markets and finance in general was my grandmother,” she said. “Born in the late 1800s and unable to complete her education, she instilled in me the importance of not only education, but also following the markets closely. She lived with my family when I was in high school and, during that time, we all tracked the markets and spent time together learning about companies.”