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

Apollo Global Management has acquired a 10 percent stake in Mubadala Capital, investing over $1 billion to assist the Abu Dhabi asset manager in expanding its presence in North America. Marc Rowan, co-founder and chief executive of Apollo, which oversees more than $1 trillion in assets, sees this deal as part of a strategy to support like-minded asset managers, even those that compete with his own firm.

In an exclusive interview with The Inside Brief, Rowan discussed the partnership and described the rivalry between the two firms as healthy. Despite the ongoing conflict in the region, Rowan believes the Gulf region carries less risk today than it did a year ago. Apollo plans to increase its investment in the UAE as the country prepares to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure development and building alternative routes.

Rowan also delved into the $2 trillion initial public offering of Anthropic, the reasons behind the changing valuation of passive investing, and his expectations for an upcoming significant AI-related event that might lead to regulation. The conversation further touched on the credit case for AI, from chip financing to hyper scalers' record borrowing, and why Rowan is particularly concerned about short-term political decision-making in the US.

He also pondered whether AI is currently a bubble, and why investment firms like Blackstone's Jon Gray and Citadel's Ken Griffin can both be right.