Apollo, Lighthouse Make a Deal

Apollo Global Management, a global alternative asset manager, and Lighthouse Investment Partners, a fund of hedge funds manager, have struck a strategic alliance.

A news release said the deal allows Apollo to diversify its product offering by adding Lighthouse’s expertise in hedge fund and managed account products to its existing suite of investment strategies. Lighthouse’s proprietary managed accounts program has approximately 90 distinct managed account investments across the full range of hedge fund strategies.

As part of the transaction, Apollo will make a $75 million convertible note investment into HFA Holdings. The proposed investment in HFA is a strategic position for Apollo, being undertaken at the parent company level, outside of Apollo’s investment funds, according to the announcement. Both firms will continue to operate and be managed independently.

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SPARK Finds Support for Lifetime Income Info Standards

More than 85% of the recordkeeping firms responding to a SPARK Institute poll said they plan to utilize the Institute’s information sharing standards and data records for retirement plan lifetime income solutions.

According to a news release, more than 50% of the firms that plan to use the standards expect their recordkeeping systems to be ready to support them within the next year. 

Larry Goldbrum, General Counsel, noted that the standards will allow customer-facing recordkeepers to offer one or more products from unaffiliated insurance carriers; will facilitate portability of products when a plan sponsor changes plan recordkeepers; and will support portability of guaranteed income when a participant has a distributable event in the form of a rollover to a Rollover IRA or as a qualified plan-distributed annuity.

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The information sharing standards document, “Data Layouts for Retirement Income Solutions (Version 1.0),” is posted on The SPARK Institute website at http://www.sparkinstitute.org/comments-and-materials.php.  Goldbrum said.

The Institute’s poll from October 27 to November 15 generated 15 responses from recordkeepers, the news release said. More information about the SPARK Institute poll is here.

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