Utah's Largest Real Estate Firm, Bridge Investment Group, is Being Acquired for $1.5 Billion in an All-Stock Deal

Sandy, Utah-based Bridge Investment Group Holdings (NYSE:BRDG) has agreed to be acquired by New York City-based Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) in an all-stock transaction for ~$1.5 billion.

In the 16 years since its formation in 2009, Bridge has become the largest real estate firm in Utah, with $49.2 billion in Assets Under Management (AUM) and roughly 56% of its annual income derived from its real estate assets (as noted in the graphic shown below).

During 2023 (the last full year data is available), Bridge's Fee-Earning real estate AUM was derived from

• Real Estate Development: 19%,
• Multifamily Real Estate: 17%,
• Workforce & Affordable Housing: 8%,
• Senior Housing: 7%,
• Office Real Estate: 2%,
• Single-Family Rentals: 1%, and
• Net Lease Income: 1%.

Those real estate assets include

• Over 90,000 residential units across multifamily, workforce, affordable and senior housing, as well as single-family rentals (as of 12 March 2024); and
• Over 13.6 million square feet of industrial net lease warehouse properties and build-to-suit development projects, including logistics, manufacturing, distribution and cold storage assets (as currently highlighted on the homepage of the Bridge website).

Conversely, Apollo was formed by three former investment bankers at Drexel Burnham Lambert after its collapse in 1990, and it has since emerged as a leading alternative asset management firm in the United States.

According to Wikipedia, Apollo has over $535 billion in AUM, with

• $392 billion invested in various credit facilities,
• $99 billion invested in private equity, and
• Over $46 billion invested in real estate and infrastructure

Since the $16.00/share price point of initial public offering (IPO) in mid-July 2021, Bridge has seen the price of its its publicly traded common stock rise as high at $25.61 in November 2021 and drop as low as $6.58 in March 2024.

The price of Bridge's common shares closed at $7.22 last Friday, 21 February 2025, the last trading day before Bridge and Apollo announced the acquisition.

{NOTE: Bridge's per share price closed at $9.95 yesterday.}

Based upon information shared within the acquisition news release (filed jointly by both parties), certain Bridge shareholders* who collectively own 51.4% of the "... outstanding voting power of the Class A common stock and Class B common stock of Bridge ... have (already) agreed to vote in favor of the transaction."

As a result, barring some unforeseen event(s), this acquisition is expected to close some time in the third quarter (ended 30 September 2025).

In other words, this deal is a "Slam Dunk."

After the acquisition closes, "... Bridge will operate as a standalone platform within Apollo’s asset management business, (and will retain) its existing brand, management team and dedicated capital formation team."

Additionally, Robert Morse, Bridge Co-Founder, Executive Chairman and a Partner of its Operating Company, "... will become an Apollo Partner and lead Apollo’s real estate equity franchise."

It should be noted that concurrent with the acquisition announcement on Monday, Bridge cancelled its "... fourth quarter and full-year 2024 earnings conference call and webcast (which was) scheduled for (yesterday, 25 February 2025)."

* — The shareholders noted above are described as "Certain members of Bridge management and their affiliates ...."

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