The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: Bill Katz - TD Cowen - Analyst
: And maybe to kick off a couple of big picture questions and then we can maybe dig into some of the more detailed items. Just from
a big picture perspective, as I understand it, I think you've been with Athene almost from day one. And I was just sort of wondering
in your time there and your experience and drive to grow the business. Can you talk a little bit how the franchise has evolved over
the last many years?
Question: Bill Katz - TD Cowen - Analyst
: Grant, maybe related to that, we often hear from the Apollo Management team, how strategically important to have Athene in
house, a key competitor has sort of gone through and replicated that same sort of dynamic. Sorry, if you could maybe touch on you
from your perspective, the importance that you see as Athene being owned by Apollo and what benefits that brings across the
platform as well?
Question: Bill Katz - TD Cowen - Analyst
: Maybe similar things will surface in some of the other questions I have. So curious from that. So maybe one more big picture question.
An increasing number of asset managers, particularly the attritional side. I think companies like BlackRock, T. Rowe Price,
AllianceBernstein are beginning to include guaranteed income in their retirement offerings.
I'm sort of wondering, does this create or accelerate opportunities foreseen to maybe tap more deeply into that defined contribution
side and maybe to dig in a little bit deeper, how you sort of see the evolution to maybe the 401K and or the target date fund segments
within that?
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JUNE 07, 2024 / 12:35PM, APO.N - Apollo Global Management Inc at TD Cowen Inaugural Financial Services
Summit
Question: Bill Katz - TD Cowen - Analyst
: Got it. Now we are getting a couple of questions from the audience. I'm going to come back to those in just a little while. Just a few
more for me, just we focus a lot of time from our side on net spread, and that's usually the Prism is either the yield that you're able
to -- that Apollo is able to get against the annuities which you're generating. But I'd like to spend a little time maybe on the operational
side of things where you have oversight on as well.
I mean, you've done a great job of managing those costs over time. Everything we can see. What's been the key to that? And how
do you think about that expense trajectory over time setting that sometimes over overlooked net spread dynamics?
Question: Bill Katz - TD Cowen - Analyst
: So maybe we can -- maybe we can peel down that sort of a little bit deeper. So and where we ended on technology. Can you describe
maybe how you are using technology? I'd be curious how you including artificial intelligence to potentially bend down the cost
curve and to drive broader efficiencies and then any use cases that will you're even maybe even testing AI and how you're thinking
about just the technology outlook?
Question: Bill Katz - TD Cowen - Analyst
: All right. In order to link insurance at AI together, right. Okay, let's move into growth and there's a lot of the questions are coming
in the question back to that, I'll get to those in just a moment, but big picture down as well.
If you could frame just the structure and scale of Athene's retail annuity distribution out there, we're going to get to hear from that
very much. How has that been growing over the last couple of years? And then how you see has the future look as you think through
your channel incremental growth?
Question: Bill Katz - TD Cowen - Analyst
: Just as a sidebar question, as those come into me here, one of the things that we're hearing in retail democratization in just retail in
general, and we've certainly seen it on the institutional side is the consolidation by the distributors to fewer and fewer manufacturers.
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JUNE 07, 2024 / 12:35PM, APO.N - Apollo Global Management Inc at TD Cowen Inaugural Financial Services
Summit
Is that something that you're seeing playing out to Grant? just in terms of the annuity market and some of these larger players, are
they concentrating the market share to you with some of your larger peers?
Question: Bill Katz - TD Cowen - Analyst
: Got it, All right. one more for me and then I'll take some of the ones from the palace. On most recent fixed income call which I find
to be terrific. You noted that you recently launched an annuity distribution platform with Morgan Stanley. And I think you highlighted
them just in the last question about Wells Fargo, JPMorgan.
Can you speak to the early success you're having with them? And how should we be thinking about expectations for any of the new
partnerships in this year? You mentioned you're sort of close at CN, but other platforms out there that you still have an opportunity
to step onto?
Question: Bill Katz - TD Cowen - Analyst
: Great. Let me ask a tie a couple of questions we've gotten from the audience to what we've already been chatting about. First question
is, I was wondering -- if question is can you comment on second quarter retail annuity flows? And is there any adjustment to your
full year outlook?
Question: Bill Katz - TD Cowen - Analyst
: Okay. And a related question is given a bit of more competitive environment or how the environment is evolving for fixed annuities
as traditional insurers are trying to write more business, how is this impacting either volume or spreads of incremental growth?
Question: Bill Katz - TD Cowen - Analyst
: Okay. But you did say you still writing north of your mid 10s, we criteria --
Question: Bill Katz - TD Cowen - Analyst
: I will bucket up against time. I can't be our fastest growing, maybe move a little bit. Over the last year or so to a different topic over
the last year, so you highlighted some new relationships that you've been curating in the Asia Pacific region and it seems like the
non-US market retiree market is tremendous in terms of the opportunity set.
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JUNE 07, 2024 / 12:35PM, APO.N - Apollo Global Management Inc at TD Cowen Inaugural Financial Services
Summit
I just sort of wondering if you could speak a little bit around maybe the flow reinsurance and funding agreements? And then how
you sort of view the opportunity to scale either in the markets or across the product lines?
Question: Bill Katz - TD Cowen - Analyst
: Great. And just one more from the audience here. Do you have any competitive advantage in the small and mid-cap PRT segment
at this point?
Question: Bill Katz - TD Cowen - Analyst
: Okay. Last question for me. Were bucket up right against Time overall. Just turning to gross outflows, they ticked up modestly
quarter-over-quarter in the first quarter to about 12% annualized rate, but you've guided to improving trends throughout the
remainder of the year. What gives you the confidence that the policy driven outflows in particular will remain low within that 12%?
Question: Bill Katz - TD Cowen - Analyst
: Excellent. On that note, Grant, we're out of time. I know you have a very busy day with investors at our conference. I just want to say
thank you very much to you and the team for coming today, and we look forward to continuing the dialogue at another point.
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