Apollo Global Partners With Varde To Buy Stake In OneMain

Apollo Global Management, LLC (NYSE:APO) and Varde Partners announced that they have entered into an agreement to buy Fortress Investment Group’s 40.5% stake in OneMain Holdings (NYSE:OMF) . The purchase price has been set at $26 per share. The deal is expected to close in second-quarter 2018.

OneMain provides a variety of personal loans to millions of customers with lower credit ratings. Based in Evansville, IN, the company was bought by Fortress in 2015 from Citigroup (NYSE:C) . However, after entering into a takeover agreement with SoftBank Group Corp in February 2017, the company was found divesting its stake across several transactions over the past few months.

Matthew Michelini, a partner at Apollo Global, said, “As one of America’s premier consumer finance companies, we believe OneMain is exceptionally well-positioned for continued growth and innovation.”

Per Aneek Mamik, head of Specialty Finance at Varde in North America, this transaction deepens its roots in the specialty finance business globally. He also said, “We look forward to collaborating with the highly experienced teams at OneMain and Apollo to grow and develop the business for the benefit of all stakeholders.”

Barclays (LON:BARC) PLC is the lead financial advisor to the Apollo Global and Varde and Sidley Austin LLP is the legal counsel. Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) also provides advisory services to them. On the other hand, Citigroup serves as financial advisor to Fortress with Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP serving as legal counsel.

Apollo Global is determined to improve its performance by undertaking several strategic initiatives. Recently, it has acquired several companies that have greatly diversified its business offerings. Also, the company’s acquisition spree reflects its strong grip on its capital position.

Shares of Apollo Global have rallied 67.4% in a year’s time, outperforming the 30.6% growth of the industry it belongs to.

Currently, the company carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Another stock worth considering in the same space is Legg Mason (NYSE:LM) , sporting a Zacks Rank of 1. The company’s Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings for 2017 was revised 2.2% upward, in the last 60 days. Also, its share price has increased 31.9% in the past 12 months.

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