Tiger global’s venture Capital gets loans from Apollo global

Apollo Global Management Inc. is helping to finance the growing venture capital business at Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global Management, one of last year’s most active investors in closely held technology companies.

Affiliates of Apollo’s Athene insurance business made at least $330 million of loans secured by assets in Tiger Global venture funds, primarily their stakes in private firms, during the first six months of this year, state regulatory filings show. While JPMorgan Chase & Co. had been the main provider of such loans, Tiger Global has sought to diversify lending sources for its VC operation.

Tiger Global raised more than $19 billion through its two most recent venture funds and is seeking $6 billion for its next pool. CB Insights ranked the money manager as the most active venture investor last year, based on the number of deals in which it participated.

The venture funds supplement their capital by borrowing against their holdings, an arrangement known as net asset value lending. At Tiger Global, the size of each loan typically equals about 10% of the assets pledged as collateral, a ratio that minimizes the lender’s risk.

Representatives for Tiger Global and Apollo declined to comment.

Coleman, who founded Tiger Global in 2001, runs its flagship hedge fund, while firm partner Scott Shleifer manages the VC arm.

The combined value of Athene’s various Tiger Global assets totaled $531 million at the end of June, ranking the money manager among the insurer’s biggest investments in a single company, according to a quarterly regulatory filing that didn’t include details about the assets.

The state filings provide a partial answer.

In February, Athene Annuity & Life Co. made a venture-capital loan with a face value of $160 million that bears interest at 4.38% annually, according to one document. Another shows that, in May, Athene Annuity and a sister insurance company provided an additional $170 million of VC debt that carries an interest rate of 6.58%.

Athene was one of several insurers that joined the group of lenders providing debt to the Tiger Global VC funds, according to a person familiar with the situation.