Apollo Interview Process

Is anyone familiar with the Apollo interview process / gone through the process? Any advice on what to expect from the technical rounds? Assuming ask detailed questions about my deals but not sure what else to prepare. Thanks!

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Know your deals inside out. Cap structure, financials, FCF drivers, returns. Be able to do a paper LBO on every deal you did. Have a view on if it was a good deal or not. Be able to change assumptions when prompted and spit out the revised returns. Be able to speak to returns attribution.

Apollo is obsessed with FCF above anything else. Make sure that is your primary perspective, not ebitda.

Apollo is also obsessed with figuring out across the cap structure investment perspectives. Understand where you want to come in in the cap structure and why. What would a debt investment create the asset at via loan to own. And what that means for your downside protection/asymmetric risk-return.

You should also know that founders of Apollo can’t go 3 sentences without saying their avg buy in multiple across the portfolio is [4-6]x ebitda, or something like that. Very value oriented. Downside protected. Run it for cash and burn it to the ground and still make money.

Lastly, they’re also obsessed with finding what they think is an angle. Be able to say something like if I were looking at this company while at Apollo, I’d probably try to leverage any angle we could get from our investment in Direct Chassis Link for X Y Z purpose (should be thoughtful not try hard). Or some other creative angle that demonstrates you’re scrappy and find ways to be differentiated.

Lastly, if you can do all of the above, also be sure to bring a pen and make sure your cell phone is fully charged. Because after you finish those questions, you’ll need to sign an offer letter and will want to call your mom.

 

Very helpful comment, thank you so much. Would you happen to know of any books/primer that would be helpful to understand the value angle Apollo invests in?

 

Know your deals inside out. Cap structure, financials, FCF drivers, returns. Be able to do a paper LBO on every deal you did. Have a view on if it was a good deal or not. Be able to change assumptions when prompted and spit out the revised returns. Be able to speak to returns attribution.

Apollo is obsessed with FCF above anything else. Make sure that is your primary perspective, not ebitda.

Apollo is also obsessed with figuring out across the cap structure investment perspectives. Understand where you want to come in in the cap structure and why. What would a debt investment create the asset at via loan to own. And what that means for your downside protection/asymmetric risk-return.

You should also know that founders of Apollo can't go 3 sentences without saying their avg buy in multiple across the portfolio is [4-6]x ebitda, or something like that. Very value oriented. Downside protected. Run it for cash and burn it to the ground and still make money.

Lastly, they're also obsessed with finding what they think is an angle. Be able to say something like if I were looking at this company while at Apollo, I'd probably try to leverage any angle we could get from our investment in Direct Chassis Link for X Y Z purpose (should be thoughtful not try hard). Or some other creative angle that demonstrates you're scrappy and find ways to be differentiated.

Lastly, if you can do all of the above, also be sure to bring a pen and make sure your cell phone is fully charged. Because after you finish those questions, you'll need to sign an offer letter and will want to call your mom.

100% AGREE - my interviews nearly mirrored all of this.  

 

Curious how much this applies to on-cycle now, given no analyst really have live deal experience and if they do, it was limited involvement from there SA.

 

I have a 30 minute technical interview on Friday. I'm wondering what to expect 

 

Regarding the ESG fund, Apollo's definition of impact investing is broader than usual, to include: 

  • The impact of layoffs and cost cutting 
  • The impact of excessive leverage 
  • The impact of vigorous creditor-on-creditor violence
  • And finally, the impact of an in- or out of court restructuring 

On a serious note... The notion that Apollo of all funds has an ESG strategy is a meme. Makes you wonder what the catch is. 

 

Anyone have any updates on the Impact process? Are they still interviewing?

 

Is that the same as the sustainable investing platform (energy transition) or different?

 

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