Apollo's Marc Rowan on his $1bn Mubadala deal, AI valuations and Anthropic's IPO

Apollo Global Management, a multi-trillion dollar asset manager, has recently acquired a 10% stake in Mubadala Capital, an Abu Dhabi-based investment firm, investing over $1 billion in the company. Marc Rowan, the co-founder and chief executive of Apollo, discussed the $1 billion investment in an exclusive interview with The Inside Brief.

Rowan explained that the partnership aims to foster a relationship between two firms that may compete with each other, even though Apollo manages more than $1 trillion in assets. The CEO highlighted that the competition between the two firms is healthy.

Despite the ongoing conflict in the region, Rowan expressed his belief that the Gulf region is safer today than it was a year ago. He also mentioned that Apollo plans to increase its investment in the UAE as the region continues to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure and alternative routes.

In addition to discussing the Mubadala deal, Rowan touched upon the upcoming Anthropic IPO, a $2 trillion offering. He analyzed how passive investing has altered the pricing of the largest listings. Rowan also mentioned his expectation of a significant AI-related event that may lead to regulation.

The interview further covered the credit case for AI, from chip financing to record borrowing by hyper-scalers. Rowan expressed his concerns over short-term political decision-making in the US and reflected on whether AI is currently a bubble. He noted that both Blackstone's Jon Gray and Citadel's Ken Griffin can be right in their views.