Insurance double-hatters like Apollo can expect more scrutiny

Regulators are homing in on conflicts of interests at private-equity-owned insurers

The Apollo pitch to investors seven years ago to establish a European insurance platform — Athora — was simple. Apollo built Athene, now the top seller of annuities in the US. In Europe, it would do the same again.

And to some extent, it has. Since 2018, Athora has received roughly €6.75 billion ($7.29 billion) of equity capital commitments, of which about €2 billion came from Apollo’s balance sheet. The firm established multiple European subsidiaries within just four years of starting up, with