Apollo promotes MidCap exec; launches DL platform

Howard Widra, the co-founder and former chief executive of Maryland-based MidCap Financial, has been promoted to partner at Apollo Global Management. The promotion was announced in tandem with the two firms’ launch of their direct lending platform.

Apollo acquired MidCap in the end of 2013 and has been working on setting up this platform since. The new vehicle will use MidCap’s healthcare-focused asset-based lending expertise to build a larger direct lending platform that will lend to multiple industries. PDI first reported on these plans in December.

Steve Curwin, MidCap’s other co-founder who previously had the title of chief credit and risk officer, has been promoted to chief executive of MidCap Financial.

MidCap and Apollo announced the plans on 2 February and said $1.2 billion of equity has been raised from some of Apollo’s existing investors and new ones. MidCap Financial has also collected new debt facilities and expanded existing ones.

In addition to MidCap’s healthcare focus, Apollo will bring in its origination capabilities on energy, financial sponsors, aviation, financial services, mining and other industries. MidCap will likely continue to focus on the direct origination of senior secured loans, including asset-based loans, revolving credit facilities and other senior secured facilities, while Apollo will continue to use the other credit vehicles it manages for the direct origination of subordinated and opportunistic credit, said the statement.

“As a result of secular shifts in the traditional lending market, we believe direct origination is one of the most compelling opportunities in credit today,” Marc Rowan, co-founder and senior managing director of Apollo, said in the statement.

MidCap Financial is a mid-market-focused specialty finance firm that provides senior debt capital to companies intended to finance growth and other business management needs. As of January 2015, MidCap had $2 billion in assets.

Apollo was founded in 1990 by Leon Black. It has about $164 billion of assets under management in private equity, credit and real estate funds across a core group of nine industries. The firm has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Bethesda, Toronto, London, Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Singapore, Mumbai and Hong Kong.