Apollo Global president Spilker to step down

Apollo relied on Spilker not just as a senior executive but also as a major figure in its earnings calls with investors and analysts. The firm has no immediate plans to replace him, and its founders will assume many of his duties in the short term, sister news service Reuters reported.

Spilker decided it was time to step down because he saw his job as a project that involved successfully completing Apollo’s initial public offering in 2011 and setting up the infrastructure that comes with being a public company, according to people close to the firm and not authorized to speak publicly on the subject.

“Marc leaves a firm that has fulfilled the vision it set for itself to become a successful public company and to put in place the infrastructure and resources it requires,” Apollo co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Leon Black said in a statement.

Spilker will stay on as an adviser until the end of the year, Apollo said. Black and two of Apollo’s other co-founders and senior executives, Josh Harris and Marc Rowan, make up the management committee that will take on Spilker’s duties.

Spilker, 49, joined Apollo as president in December 2010 after retiring from Goldman Sachs Group Inc, where he spent 20 years.

Apollo, whose biggest competitors include Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and The Blackstone Group LP, had assets under management of about $161 billion at the end of 2013.

Greg Roumeliotis is a correspondent for Reuters in New York. Additional reporting by Tanya Agrawal in Bangalore.