NYSE:ARI Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Q4 2024 Earnings Report $8.34 +0.17 (+2.02%) Closing price 04/17/2025 03:59 PM EasternExtended Trading$8.36 +0.02 (+0.24%) As of 04/17/2025 06:06 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Earnings HistoryForecast Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance EPS ResultsActual EPS$0.30Consensus EPS $0.23Beat/MissBeat by +$0.07One Year Ago EPSN/AApollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Revenue ResultsActual RevenueN/AExpected Revenue$48.20 millionBeat/MissN/AYoY Revenue GrowthN/AApollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Announcement DetailsQuarterQ4 2024Date2/10/2025TimeAfter Market ClosesConference Call DateTuesday, February 11, 2025Conference Call Time10:00AM ETUpcoming EarningsApollo Commercial Real Estate Finance's Q1 2025 earnings is scheduled for Thursday, April 24, 2025, with a conference call scheduled on Friday, April 25, 2025 at 10:00 AM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Conference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptSlide DeckPress Release (8-K)ReportAnnual Report (10-K)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfileSlide DeckFull Screen Slide DeckPowered by Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Q4 2024 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrFebruary 11, 2025 ShareLink copied to clipboard.PresentationSkip to Participants Operator00:00:00I'd like to remind everyone that today's call and webcast are being recorded. Please note that they are the property of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Inc. And that any unauthorized broadcast in any form is strictly prohibited. Information about the audio replay of this call is available in our earnings press release. I'd also like to call your attention to the customary Safe Harbor disclosure in our press release regarding forward looking statements. Operator00:00:24Today's conference call and webcast may include forward looking statements and projections, and we ask that you refer to our most recent filings with the SEC for important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements and projections. In addition, we will be discussing certain non GAAP measures on this call, which management believes are relevant to assessing the company's financial performance. These measures are reconciled to GAAP figures in our earnings presentation, which is available in our Stockholders section of our website. We do not undertake any obligation to update our forward looking statements or projections unless required by law. To obtain copies of our latest SEC filings, please visit our website at www.apollocreff.com or call us at (212) 515-3200. Operator00:01:12At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to the company's Chief Executive Officer, Stuart Rothstein. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:01:20Thank you, operator, and thank you to those of us joining us this morning on the Apollo Commercial Real Estate Financing fourth quarter and full year '20 '20 '4 earnings call. As usual, I am joined today by Scott Weiner, our Chief Investment Officer and Anastasia Maranava, our Chief Financial Officer. Consistent with the return of liquidity to the real estate capital markets and the steady increase in transaction volume, ARI experienced a robust level of repayment activity and was very active in deploying capital in 2024. While the market was expecting more aggressive action from the Fed than actually took place during 2024, the continued strength of the overall economy and the modest Fed cuts was enough to generate a notable pickup in real estate investment activity. As we move into the new year, with the benefit of hindsight, it appears that property valuations troughed in the early part of 2024. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:02:27And during 2025, we expect increasing capital deployment and transaction activity across the real estate market as the significant dry powder within real estate funds is deployed and many of the participants who have been on the sidelines for the past eighteen months reenter the market. ARI finished 2024 originating $782,000,000 worth of new loans in the fourth quarter, bringing total origination volume for the year to 1,900,000,000 As of year end, approximately 30% of the loans in ARI's portfolio were originated in the past twenty four months, correlating with the rise in interest rates and the resulting reset of property values. ARI's newly originated loans were underwritten to generate very attractive risk adjusted returns benefiting from wider spreads and higher base rates and interest rate floors. The strength of Apollo's excuse me, the strength of Apollo's broad based real estate credit originations efforts is the key to ARI's active deployment. Apollo's teams originated over $16,000,000,000 worth of new loans during 2024. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:03:52As Apollo's team is consistently active in the market, ARI can seamlessly tap into the pipeline when capital to invest is available. ARI's originations in 2024 were across a broad spectrum of property types and geographies with more than half in The UK. Apollo's dominant market position in Europe continues to be a differentiator for ARI as we are able to invest in transactions with similar risk profiles and comparable credit quality to transactions in The U. S. While further diversifying the company's portfolio. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:04:29Turning now to the loan portfolio, at year end ARI's portfolio was comprised of 46 loans totaling $7,100,000,000 No additional asset specific CECL allowances were recorded in the fourth quarter. Shifting to 111 West 50 Seventh Street, there are currently four units under contract and several others in various stages of contract negotiations, including several with agreed upon offers. Upon closing of the four units and assuming one other unit closes, the net proceeds received will repay the senior mortgage in full and all proceeds thereafter will go to ARI and can be redeployed into new loans. We remain highly focused on proactive asset management and targeting resolutions on our focus loans as we seek to maximize value recovery and convert underperforming capital into higher return on invested equity opportunities. We have defined pathways for our remaining nonperforming loans and REO assets and we are actively pursuing resolutions. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:05:42As we mentioned on last quarter's call, there is meaningful upside earnings potential for ARI as we recapture and redeploy capital. For example, ARI has approximately $300,000,000 of net equity invested in the Brooklyn multifamily development. Upon completion and sale or refinancing of that asset, it is expected that ARI will be able to convert that non income producing capital to invested capital generating an ROE consistent with recently originated loans. Across ARI, we estimate that if we were able to reinvest 100% of the equity tied to non performing loans in ROE into newly originated loans, we believe there is an additional approximately $0.4 to $0.6 per share of annual earnings uplift. With that, I will turn the call over to Anastasia to review ARI's financial results for the year. Anastasia MironovaCFO at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:06:45Thank you, Stuart, and good morning, everyone. ARI reported distributable earnings of $45,000,000 or $0.32 per share of common stock for the fourth quarter with GAAP net income of $38,000,000 or $0.27 per diluted share of common stock. For the full year, we reported distributable earnings of $190,000,000 or $1.33 per share of common stock with GAAP net loss available to stockholders of negative $132,000,000 or negative $0.97 per share. Our dividend was well covered with 128 percent coverage for the quarter and 111% for the full year. It is worth noting that our fourth quarter distributable earnings included $0.07 of non recurring items such as prepayment fees, accelerated fee amortization on early repayments and other similar one time items. Anastasia MironovaCFO at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:07:51Coupled with the impact of rate cuts executed by the Fed over the course of the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four, we expect that our quarterly earnings in 2025 would be lower when compared to Q4 twenty twenty four, while still providing sufficient coverage for our dividend. Our loan portfolio ended the year with a carrying value of $7,100,000,000 and a weighted average unlevered yield of 8.1%. As Stuart mentioned, we had a strong quarter of loan originations, closing three new commitments, two upsizes and one refinancing transaction. ARI funded about $300,000,000 associated with these commitments at close. During the quarter, we also funded an additional $97,000,000 for previously closed loans, bringing the year to date total add on fundings to $627,000,000 We had another quarter of elevated loan repayments, which totaled $830,000,000 and therefore outpaced new loan closings and add on fundings. Anastasia MironovaCFO at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:09:00As a result, our loan portfolio balance decreased quarter over quarter. However, with an origination pipeline of over $1,000,000,000 for the first half of the year, we expect our loan portfolio to grow in 2025 as we recirculating capital from repayments into new deals. We closed one loan commitment for $114,000,000 post quarter end so far. With respect to risk ratings, the weighted average risk rating of our portfolio at quarter end was three point zero unchanged from the previous quarter end. There were no asset specific CECL allowances recorded during the quarter and no material movements in ratings across the portfolio. Anastasia MironovaCFO at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:09:48Our total CECL allowance was relatively flat quarter over quarter. As of December 31, it equated to three seventy nine million dollars which represents $2.74 per share of book value. Moving on to the right hand side of the balance sheet. During the quarter, we continued to see spread tightening across repo facilities with average spread on new repo draws in Q4 being on average 45 basis points lower compared to the weighted average cost of borrowings across our secured facilities. Our debt to equity ratio at quarter end was 3.2 times, down from 3.5 times at September 30. Anastasia MironovaCFO at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:10:34The company ended the quarter with over $380,000,000 of total liquidity comprised of cash on hand, undrawn credit capacity on existing facilities and loan proceeds held by the servicer. Our book value per share, excluding general CECL allowance and depreciation, was $12.77 a slight increase from last quarter. And with that, we would like to ask the operator to open the line for questions. Operator00:11:06Thank you. Our first question comes from Rick Shane with JPMorgan. You may proceed. Richard ShaneAnalyst at JP Morgan00:11:25Thanks for taking my questions this morning. Look, you guys still have a substantial specific reserve and it appears that the you are now really in a position where you've dimensionalized what you see as the big risks within the portfolio. As we think about that specific reserve and how it might translate into realized losses or transactions this year and realized losses over the next year or two, can you just give us some sense of what the cadence of that might look like, so we can dial in our distributable earnings estimates? Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:12:04Yes. Look, I think as you think about the big components of the specific reserve, Rick, I think obviously, as I mentioned in my comments, if all continues at the pace it's going, we think we'll start clawing back some of the capital, excuse me, that is tied up in the 111 West fifty seventh project. That doesn't impact the reserve per se, because what we're carrying that is sort of our net post reserve balance at this point, but it is certainly capital that we envision being able to redeploy into performing assets. So I think we're optimistic that will be part of our $375,000,000 or so of net outstanding will start coming back to us this year and we can put that to work. The Cincinnati asset known as Liberty Center, it's up over 90% leased at this point. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:13:18I think there's potential opportunities to try and move that into the market this year and get that capital back. I think it's a later half of the year sort of event, but those are probably the two nearest term opportunities to start putting capital to work, which is sort of second half of this year. And then as I mentioned in my comments, there's a lot of equity tied up in the Brooklyn REO, which realistically that asset will be probably start taking tenants latter part of this year, which means, assuming things go as well, we'll have proof of concept on the asset and we could start thinking early part of next year about sale or refinancing to pull out a fair bit of our equity in that transaction. So it's really, I would say, latter part of this year heading into next year is when we should really start seeing underperforming capitalREO start being put to work more productively. Richard ShaneAnalyst at JP Morgan00:14:32Hey, I really appreciate you swinging at that pitch and the specificity of the answer. So thank you very much. Operator00:14:40Thank you. Our next question comes from Jade Rahmani with KBW. You may proceed. Jade RahmaniManaging Director at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW)00:14:49Thank you very much. Just a high level question, if you could put some paint some thematics around where you're seeing interesting opportunities. Geographically, it seems like you're still active in Europe, multifamily has been picking up. But if you could just talk to maybe a bit of property type and geography, but then also like the kinds of situations you're stepping into, are these capital structure challenged deals, are they new acquisitions? What kinds of situations are these? Jade RahmaniManaging Director at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW)00:15:22Thank you. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:15:24Scott, do you want to take that one? Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:15:26Sure. Yes, Jade, look, I think we're seeing really increased activity really across all sectors and geographies. Multifamily is something that we're very constructive on. I would say the type of deals that we're doing are generally newly built multifamily, so not at all distressed situations, but newly constructed where we're refinancing a construction loan. And so the transition is really just leasing up. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:15:56We're seeing similar type deals within senior housing or care homes, both in The UK and The United States. That's certainly one area we've been spending a lot of time on. Continuing the residential theme, you're certainly seeing interesting stuff in both student housing, as well as in certain markets, condo inventory, loans, hotels continue to be an area of focus, but really nothing is distressed. It's both acquisitions, as well as refinancings. Data centers is an area where we've been as a platform active and I think that's something that ARI in the future will be participating in really on the hyperscale area long term leases to major investment grade credits about either stable assets or ones that are in the midst of construction. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:16:55And as you mentioned, UK and Europe, we continue to find really good interesting opportunities there as well. Jade RahmaniManaging Director at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW)00:17:06And I was wondering if you could give an update on the REO hotels and the outlook there, since you didn't mention that those two D. C. And Atlanta hotels as potential 2025 monetizations? Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:17:21Yes. I think on D go ahead, Scott. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:17:24I was going to say D. C, I think we've referenced before continues to perform very well. It's exceeding pre COVID levels clearly with the inauguration this year and all the activity in D. C. Off to a very good start. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:17:38So I think that is an asset, assuming the capital markets continue to be constructive, that we would potentially test the market later this year. And then Atlanta is really an asset we continue to evaluate the right business model in terms of balancing, putting CapEx into it, what's the return on investment on that, what's the highest and best use of the asset in terms of what we're targeting and things like that. And again, also just trying to raise the cash flow. So I would say we continue to evaluate both assets in terms of an exit. We think our marks are appropriate in terms of where we have it. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:18:26On the D. C. Asset, we did put on asset level financing and so that is not debt capital for us. That's generating a nice levered return. The Atlanta asset is also generating cash flow, although below the type of return that we'd like to see on our capital, but both of them are at least contributing to income. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:18:47So we're not going to be a hurry up to sell. So if we can get the right price on either one, we would sell later this year. Jade RahmaniManaging Director at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW)00:18:57Thanks a lot. Operator00:18:59Thank you. Our next question comes from Steve Delaney with Citizens JMP Securities. You may proceed. Steve DelaneyDirector of Mortgage at Citizens JMP Securities, LLC00:19:07Good morning, everyone. Happy New Year. Good to be on with you this morning. I wanted to talk about the portfolio, $7,100,000,000 at the end of the year. It sounds like I know you have some non earning assets in the REO, other things that you've gathered about, but it sounds like you might be slightly under levered in your core portfolio. Steve DelaneyDirector of Mortgage at Citizens JMP Securities, LLC00:19:32Given what you're seeing in terms of new attractive bridge loans, could that portfolio grow over the next six to twelve months to $7,500,000,000 8 billion dollars Is that feasible with your current portfolio? Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:19:45Yes, absolutely. I mean, it's really just a matter of timing. We had some large repayments come in at the end of the year, and we have, as Stuart mentioned, a large pipeline of deals, so, that are in closing, one of which did already close this quarter and a few will be coming. So if you just think of it, as we take that capital that we have sitting there and invest it and then there will be senior mortgages that we lever, easily could see the portfolio growing by $500,000,000 pretty easily. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:20:16Yes. And Steve, just to put a finer point on that, like there is an abundant supply of capital available for back leverage for us as we seek to do new deals and use leverage to get to ROE. So to Scott's point, as we find things that are interesting, there's a chance for us to lever that equity and grow the portfolio a bit. Steve DelaneyDirector of Mortgage at Citizens JMP Securities, LLC00:20:42Yes. So the banks aren't so much competing with you for bridge loans, but they're more than happy to lend to you to finance your bridge loans. Is that the way we should think about it? Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:20:55Yes, there's plenty. Yes, I think whatever they like to say about their headline sort of on balance sheet activities, they're very active behind the scenes looking to provide leverage. Steve DelaneyDirector of Mortgage at Citizens JMP Securities, LLC00:21:07There seem to be some green shoots. We heard it from you, Stuart. And in addition, let's just talk domestic, but it sounds like The UK has been something really nice for you guys to tap in. But the nature of the bridge loans today versus maybe nine to twelve months, I think it seems for a while there that the market the commercial real estate market was kind of stuck and everybody was refinancing properties, but there didn't seem to necessarily be fresh new projects with new equity coming in through real estate investors tackling new projects. Are you seeing in your bridge loans now more new business plans and new properties? Steve DelaneyDirector of Mortgage at Citizens JMP Securities, LLC00:21:55Or are we still in this mode of where we're moving money around loans around from bank to bank, but there's not as much financing on bridge loans of new projects as it is just the old stuff. Just curious if there's if the animal spirits have been aroused within the real estate development and equity investor community? Thank you. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:22:22Look, as I mentioned in the opening remarks and Scott could add some color as well, we're definitely seeing people coming off the sidelines for lack of a better phrase, and starting to look for reasons to put capital to work. So there's definitely I'd say, look, absent the office space where it's generally sort of people playing for time, for lack of a better phrase. I think you are starting to see, as Scott mentioned in his remarks, whether it's data center, multifamily, industrial, people looking for ways to put capital into assets that they think work from a long term perspective. So not fully backed, but definitely I would say people getting off the sidelines and recognizing that if they've got capital that they've raised for investment, they need to deploy that capital. I don't know, Scott, feel free to add some commentary. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:23:33No, I Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:23:33think that is. I mean, I think just looking at our overall platform, I think last year about a quarter of it was for acquisitions. And as Drew mentioned, we deployed $16,000,000,000 globally in loans. So certainly a lot of acquisitions, but a lot of the stuff could be recently built, new construction stuff. I mean, sometimes people are bringing in new investors and recapping. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:23:56So the markets are certainly fully functioning activity, but at the same time, a lot of people don't need or want to sell. They think there's upside in cash flows and certainly they think at some point interest rates will go down, which will lower cap rates even further. Steve DelaneyDirector of Mortgage at Citizens JMP Securities, LLC00:24:20Very helpful. Thank you both for your comments. Operator00:24:24Thank you. Our next question comes from John Nicodemus with BTIG. You may proceed. John NickodemusVice President, Equity Research at BTIG00:24:32Hi, good morning, everyone. Yes, just kind of an extension of what Steve was just asking. Obviously, I've heard the phrase extended pretend a ton in recent quarters. But kind of with that rate uncertainty to start 2025, I'm just curious sort of the instances of borrowers looking to extend into what they believe could be a more favorable rate environment down the line regardless of what's going on with the asset underlying the loans. So just sort of if you're seeing much of that or just any real changes you've noticed with borrowers and how they're proceeding to start 2025 given everything that's transpired in the past couple of months would be really helpful. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:25:07Scott, you want to take that? Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:25:10Yes. Look, I mean, we certainly look from our perspective, we've been never doing the extend for 10. We want to make sure that sponsor is the right sponsor at the right basis to sign leases or do deals and has capital. But I think to my earlier point, people certainly have a lot more visibility and transparency in terms of where they think things are heading, whether that be office or multifamily and things like that and kind of also have worked through what's in their portfolio and kind of have decided what their winners are or not. So not to say it's not going to continue. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:25:48I still think there's a lot of challenges in particular in office in markets that still have its way to work through, whether that be because something has a long term lease that hasn't expired yet or still people are trying to figure out what they're going to do with it. But I think people clearly have a good sense on things. John NickodemusVice President, Equity Research at BTIG00:26:14Great. Really helpful and that's all for me. Thank you. Operator00:26:19Thank you. Our next question comes from Harsh Mounani with Green Street. You may proceed. Harsh HemnaniEquity Research Analyst at Green Street Advisors, LLC00:26:30Thank you. So it seemed like a couple of the highlighted transactions in 4Q were somewhat stabilized, especially maybe the retail asset in UK. Could you sort of touch on the spreads that you might see on these types of stabilized assets and how they might differ from the more transitional assets that you're typically doing? Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:26:55Scott, you want to talk about spreads in the market these days? Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:26:58Yes. Look, I mean, I think overall, you've heard from you'll hear from us and others, certainly spreads have over the past year, eighteen months that have come in. But at the same time, the financing spreads have come in a lot, driven by the bank's appetite to put out warehouse and also in The U. S, the reemergence of the CRE CLO market, where you can see those spreads that have come in dramatically. So, I would say even with tighter loan spreads, we're still able to generate our mid teen returns. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:27:32As far as stable spreads versus kind of transitional spreads, again, it's very much dependent on deals. Generally, as you think of property types or location, a hotel deal, for example, is generally could be stable and still at a wider spread than a multifamily or would be at a wider spread than a multifamily. So I think there are some nuances there. But at the same time, if we're doing a tighter spread and a more stable asset, generally the financing that we then get on that asset ourselves is better, either that be a higher advance rate and or a tighter spread. So generally, we're working towards the same levered return, whether it be a more stable asset or more transitional asset. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:28:22But I would say generally spreads these days for what we're doing are kind of high 2s to low 4s over, right? And then call it an upfront fee. Harsh HemnaniEquity Research Analyst at Green Street Advisors, LLC00:28:40Got it. That's super helpful. And so maybe against sort of the backdrop of improving capital markets liquidity transaction volumes picking up, It seems like a good time to get into sort of the higher risk loans. But on the other hand, you can meet your return hurdles with stabilized loans at this point in the cycle. So how do you sort of weigh those two and as you evaluate where you deploy new dollars? Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:29:15Go ahead, Scott. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:29:16Yes. I mean, look, we're obviously risk is in the eye of the beholder. We're very focused on downside protection and being senior in the capital structure. And right now, we don't feel we need to be pushing leverage or business plans to get to the returns that we want. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:29:40We're very comfortable in doing the moderate leverage that we've been doing for the past few years and with the sponsors and the deal types we like. So there are certainly others who may need to push leverage or do more or searching kind of for a higher return or kind of more coming at it from an equity bend. And there's lots of deals that we do in ARI, for example, where the senior lender and there will be mezz or preferred equity behind us. And we're very happy at our basis and getting to our return. Harsh HemnaniEquity Research Analyst at Green Street Advisors, LLC00:30:17Got it. And last one from me, you mentioned previously CLOs in there and given sort of the less transitional assets in the new originations, Could we expect ARI to be in the CLO market at some point in 2025, '20 '20 '6? Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:30:38No. I mean, look, we obviously always evaluate the market. We're an active participant both as Apollo, both kind of investing in the market and actually underwriting and creating CRE CLOs. So we're well versed in what's happening, what's going on. We thankfully have some very good financing partners that we work with well, who I think gives us a lot of the flexibility that we'd like to have in our warehouse loans. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:31:07I think our borrowers appreciate that their information is not out in the public domain when they do a loan with us. And so reality is we can get a similar cost of funds with more flexibility and something our borrowers refer. And also things always come up on loans, not necessarily bad things, but things kind of change and we like having the flexibility to do what we want and not have to go back to a borrower and say, oh, we have to go talk to a servicer and do this and that. So I don't anticipate us using the theory solo market anytime. Harsh HemnaniEquity Research Analyst at Green Street Advisors, LLC00:31:45Okay. Thank you. Operator00:31:48Thank you. I would now like to turn the call back over to Stuart Rothstein for any closing remarks. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:31:54Thank you, operator. Thanks to those of you who who are participating this morning. And as always, Hillary, Anastasia, myself, to the extent people have follow-up questions, modeling questions, we're always around. Thank you all. Operator00:32:10Thank you. This concludes the conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.Read moreParticipantsExecutivesStuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive OfficerAnastasia MironovaCFOScott WeinerChief Investment OfficerAnalystsRichard ShaneAnalyst at JP MorganJade RahmaniManaging Director at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW)Steve DelaneyDirector of Mortgage at Citizens JMP Securities, LLCJohn NickodemusVice President, Equity Research at BTIGHarsh HemnaniEquity Research Analyst at Green Street Advisors, LLCPowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallApollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Q4 202400:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xTranscript SectionsPresentationParticipants Earnings DocumentsSlide DeckPress Release(8-K)ReportAnnual report(10-K) Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Earnings HeadlinesJPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) Price Target to $8.00April 18 at 2:19 AM | americanbankingnews.comUBS Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) Stock PriceApril 18 at 2:19 AM | americanbankingnews.comReal Americans Don’t Wait on Wall Street’s Next MoveWhat's happening in the markets right now should concern every freedom-loving American who's worked hard and saved smart. Your 401(k) doesn't deserve to be dragged through the mud by tariffs, trade wars, reckless spending, and political standoffs. And you don't have to stand by while Wall Street plays roulette with your future.April 19, 2025 | Premier Gold Co (Ad)Why Apollo Commerical Finance (ARI) is Poised to Beat Earnings Estimates AgainApril 18 at 1:38 AM | msn.comApollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. ...April 14, 2025 | gurufocus.comApollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. ...April 14, 2025 | gurufocus.comSee More Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About Apollo Commercial Real Estate FinanceApollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that originates, acquires, invests in, and manages commercial first mortgage loans, subordinate financings, and other commercial real estate-related debt investments in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. It is qualified as a REIT under the Internal Revenue Code. As a REIT, it would not be subject to federal income taxes, if the company distributes at least 90% of its REIT taxable income to its stockholders. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is based in New York, New York.View Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Earnings By Country U.S. Earnings Reports Canadian Earnings Reports U.K. Earnings Reports Latest Articles Archer Aviation Unveils NYC Network Ahead of Key Earnings Report3 Reasons to Like the Look of Amazon Ahead of EarningsTesla Stock Eyes Breakout With Earnings on DeckJohnson & Johnson Earnings Were More Good Than Bad—Time to Buy? Why Analysts Boosted United Airlines Stock Ahead of EarningsLamb Weston Stock Rises, Earnings Provide Calm Amidst ChaosIntuitive Machines Gains After Earnings Beat, NASA Missions Ahead Upcoming Earnings Tesla (4/22/2025)Intuitive Surgical (4/22/2025)Verizon Communications (4/22/2025)Canadian National Railway (4/22/2025)Novartis (4/22/2025)RTX (4/22/2025)3M (4/22/2025)Capital One Financial (4/22/2025)General Electric (4/22/2025)Danaher (4/22/2025) Get 30 Days of MarketBeat All Access for Free Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools. Start Your 30-Day Trial MarketBeat All Access Features Best-in-Class Portfolio Monitoring Get personalized stock ideas. Compare portfolio to indices. Check stock news, ratings, SEC filings, and more. Stock Ideas and Recommendations See daily stock ideas from top analysts. Receive short-term trading ideas from MarketBeat. Identify trending stocks on social media. Advanced Stock Screeners and Research Tools Use our seven stock screeners to find suitable stocks. Stay informed with MarketBeat's real-time news. Export data to Excel for personal analysis. Sign in to your free account to enjoy these benefits In-depth profiles and analysis for 20,000 public companies. Real-time analyst ratings, insider transactions, earnings data, and more. Our daily ratings and market update email newsletter. Sign in to your free account to enjoy all that MarketBeat has to offer. Sign In Create Account Your Email Address: Email Address Required Your Password: Password Required Log In or Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Google Forgot your password? Your Email Address: Please enter your email address. Please enter a valid email address Choose a Password: Please enter your password. Your password must be at least 8 characters long and contain at least 1 number, 1 letter, and 1 special character. Create My Account (Free) or Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Google By creating a free account, you agree to our terms of service. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
PresentationSkip to Participants Operator00:00:00I'd like to remind everyone that today's call and webcast are being recorded. Please note that they are the property of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Inc. And that any unauthorized broadcast in any form is strictly prohibited. Information about the audio replay of this call is available in our earnings press release. I'd also like to call your attention to the customary Safe Harbor disclosure in our press release regarding forward looking statements. Operator00:00:24Today's conference call and webcast may include forward looking statements and projections, and we ask that you refer to our most recent filings with the SEC for important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements and projections. In addition, we will be discussing certain non GAAP measures on this call, which management believes are relevant to assessing the company's financial performance. These measures are reconciled to GAAP figures in our earnings presentation, which is available in our Stockholders section of our website. We do not undertake any obligation to update our forward looking statements or projections unless required by law. To obtain copies of our latest SEC filings, please visit our website at www.apollocreff.com or call us at (212) 515-3200. Operator00:01:12At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to the company's Chief Executive Officer, Stuart Rothstein. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:01:20Thank you, operator, and thank you to those of us joining us this morning on the Apollo Commercial Real Estate Financing fourth quarter and full year '20 '20 '4 earnings call. As usual, I am joined today by Scott Weiner, our Chief Investment Officer and Anastasia Maranava, our Chief Financial Officer. Consistent with the return of liquidity to the real estate capital markets and the steady increase in transaction volume, ARI experienced a robust level of repayment activity and was very active in deploying capital in 2024. While the market was expecting more aggressive action from the Fed than actually took place during 2024, the continued strength of the overall economy and the modest Fed cuts was enough to generate a notable pickup in real estate investment activity. As we move into the new year, with the benefit of hindsight, it appears that property valuations troughed in the early part of 2024. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:02:27And during 2025, we expect increasing capital deployment and transaction activity across the real estate market as the significant dry powder within real estate funds is deployed and many of the participants who have been on the sidelines for the past eighteen months reenter the market. ARI finished 2024 originating $782,000,000 worth of new loans in the fourth quarter, bringing total origination volume for the year to 1,900,000,000 As of year end, approximately 30% of the loans in ARI's portfolio were originated in the past twenty four months, correlating with the rise in interest rates and the resulting reset of property values. ARI's newly originated loans were underwritten to generate very attractive risk adjusted returns benefiting from wider spreads and higher base rates and interest rate floors. The strength of Apollo's excuse me, the strength of Apollo's broad based real estate credit originations efforts is the key to ARI's active deployment. Apollo's teams originated over $16,000,000,000 worth of new loans during 2024. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:03:52As Apollo's team is consistently active in the market, ARI can seamlessly tap into the pipeline when capital to invest is available. ARI's originations in 2024 were across a broad spectrum of property types and geographies with more than half in The UK. Apollo's dominant market position in Europe continues to be a differentiator for ARI as we are able to invest in transactions with similar risk profiles and comparable credit quality to transactions in The U. S. While further diversifying the company's portfolio. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:04:29Turning now to the loan portfolio, at year end ARI's portfolio was comprised of 46 loans totaling $7,100,000,000 No additional asset specific CECL allowances were recorded in the fourth quarter. Shifting to 111 West 50 Seventh Street, there are currently four units under contract and several others in various stages of contract negotiations, including several with agreed upon offers. Upon closing of the four units and assuming one other unit closes, the net proceeds received will repay the senior mortgage in full and all proceeds thereafter will go to ARI and can be redeployed into new loans. We remain highly focused on proactive asset management and targeting resolutions on our focus loans as we seek to maximize value recovery and convert underperforming capital into higher return on invested equity opportunities. We have defined pathways for our remaining nonperforming loans and REO assets and we are actively pursuing resolutions. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:05:42As we mentioned on last quarter's call, there is meaningful upside earnings potential for ARI as we recapture and redeploy capital. For example, ARI has approximately $300,000,000 of net equity invested in the Brooklyn multifamily development. Upon completion and sale or refinancing of that asset, it is expected that ARI will be able to convert that non income producing capital to invested capital generating an ROE consistent with recently originated loans. Across ARI, we estimate that if we were able to reinvest 100% of the equity tied to non performing loans in ROE into newly originated loans, we believe there is an additional approximately $0.4 to $0.6 per share of annual earnings uplift. With that, I will turn the call over to Anastasia to review ARI's financial results for the year. Anastasia MironovaCFO at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:06:45Thank you, Stuart, and good morning, everyone. ARI reported distributable earnings of $45,000,000 or $0.32 per share of common stock for the fourth quarter with GAAP net income of $38,000,000 or $0.27 per diluted share of common stock. For the full year, we reported distributable earnings of $190,000,000 or $1.33 per share of common stock with GAAP net loss available to stockholders of negative $132,000,000 or negative $0.97 per share. Our dividend was well covered with 128 percent coverage for the quarter and 111% for the full year. It is worth noting that our fourth quarter distributable earnings included $0.07 of non recurring items such as prepayment fees, accelerated fee amortization on early repayments and other similar one time items. Anastasia MironovaCFO at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:07:51Coupled with the impact of rate cuts executed by the Fed over the course of the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four, we expect that our quarterly earnings in 2025 would be lower when compared to Q4 twenty twenty four, while still providing sufficient coverage for our dividend. Our loan portfolio ended the year with a carrying value of $7,100,000,000 and a weighted average unlevered yield of 8.1%. As Stuart mentioned, we had a strong quarter of loan originations, closing three new commitments, two upsizes and one refinancing transaction. ARI funded about $300,000,000 associated with these commitments at close. During the quarter, we also funded an additional $97,000,000 for previously closed loans, bringing the year to date total add on fundings to $627,000,000 We had another quarter of elevated loan repayments, which totaled $830,000,000 and therefore outpaced new loan closings and add on fundings. Anastasia MironovaCFO at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:09:00As a result, our loan portfolio balance decreased quarter over quarter. However, with an origination pipeline of over $1,000,000,000 for the first half of the year, we expect our loan portfolio to grow in 2025 as we recirculating capital from repayments into new deals. We closed one loan commitment for $114,000,000 post quarter end so far. With respect to risk ratings, the weighted average risk rating of our portfolio at quarter end was three point zero unchanged from the previous quarter end. There were no asset specific CECL allowances recorded during the quarter and no material movements in ratings across the portfolio. Anastasia MironovaCFO at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:09:48Our total CECL allowance was relatively flat quarter over quarter. As of December 31, it equated to three seventy nine million dollars which represents $2.74 per share of book value. Moving on to the right hand side of the balance sheet. During the quarter, we continued to see spread tightening across repo facilities with average spread on new repo draws in Q4 being on average 45 basis points lower compared to the weighted average cost of borrowings across our secured facilities. Our debt to equity ratio at quarter end was 3.2 times, down from 3.5 times at September 30. Anastasia MironovaCFO at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:10:34The company ended the quarter with over $380,000,000 of total liquidity comprised of cash on hand, undrawn credit capacity on existing facilities and loan proceeds held by the servicer. Our book value per share, excluding general CECL allowance and depreciation, was $12.77 a slight increase from last quarter. And with that, we would like to ask the operator to open the line for questions. Operator00:11:06Thank you. Our first question comes from Rick Shane with JPMorgan. You may proceed. Richard ShaneAnalyst at JP Morgan00:11:25Thanks for taking my questions this morning. Look, you guys still have a substantial specific reserve and it appears that the you are now really in a position where you've dimensionalized what you see as the big risks within the portfolio. As we think about that specific reserve and how it might translate into realized losses or transactions this year and realized losses over the next year or two, can you just give us some sense of what the cadence of that might look like, so we can dial in our distributable earnings estimates? Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:12:04Yes. Look, I think as you think about the big components of the specific reserve, Rick, I think obviously, as I mentioned in my comments, if all continues at the pace it's going, we think we'll start clawing back some of the capital, excuse me, that is tied up in the 111 West fifty seventh project. That doesn't impact the reserve per se, because what we're carrying that is sort of our net post reserve balance at this point, but it is certainly capital that we envision being able to redeploy into performing assets. So I think we're optimistic that will be part of our $375,000,000 or so of net outstanding will start coming back to us this year and we can put that to work. The Cincinnati asset known as Liberty Center, it's up over 90% leased at this point. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:13:18I think there's potential opportunities to try and move that into the market this year and get that capital back. I think it's a later half of the year sort of event, but those are probably the two nearest term opportunities to start putting capital to work, which is sort of second half of this year. And then as I mentioned in my comments, there's a lot of equity tied up in the Brooklyn REO, which realistically that asset will be probably start taking tenants latter part of this year, which means, assuming things go as well, we'll have proof of concept on the asset and we could start thinking early part of next year about sale or refinancing to pull out a fair bit of our equity in that transaction. So it's really, I would say, latter part of this year heading into next year is when we should really start seeing underperforming capitalREO start being put to work more productively. Richard ShaneAnalyst at JP Morgan00:14:32Hey, I really appreciate you swinging at that pitch and the specificity of the answer. So thank you very much. Operator00:14:40Thank you. Our next question comes from Jade Rahmani with KBW. You may proceed. Jade RahmaniManaging Director at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW)00:14:49Thank you very much. Just a high level question, if you could put some paint some thematics around where you're seeing interesting opportunities. Geographically, it seems like you're still active in Europe, multifamily has been picking up. But if you could just talk to maybe a bit of property type and geography, but then also like the kinds of situations you're stepping into, are these capital structure challenged deals, are they new acquisitions? What kinds of situations are these? Jade RahmaniManaging Director at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW)00:15:22Thank you. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:15:24Scott, do you want to take that one? Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:15:26Sure. Yes, Jade, look, I think we're seeing really increased activity really across all sectors and geographies. Multifamily is something that we're very constructive on. I would say the type of deals that we're doing are generally newly built multifamily, so not at all distressed situations, but newly constructed where we're refinancing a construction loan. And so the transition is really just leasing up. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:15:56We're seeing similar type deals within senior housing or care homes, both in The UK and The United States. That's certainly one area we've been spending a lot of time on. Continuing the residential theme, you're certainly seeing interesting stuff in both student housing, as well as in certain markets, condo inventory, loans, hotels continue to be an area of focus, but really nothing is distressed. It's both acquisitions, as well as refinancings. Data centers is an area where we've been as a platform active and I think that's something that ARI in the future will be participating in really on the hyperscale area long term leases to major investment grade credits about either stable assets or ones that are in the midst of construction. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:16:55And as you mentioned, UK and Europe, we continue to find really good interesting opportunities there as well. Jade RahmaniManaging Director at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW)00:17:06And I was wondering if you could give an update on the REO hotels and the outlook there, since you didn't mention that those two D. C. And Atlanta hotels as potential 2025 monetizations? Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:17:21Yes. I think on D go ahead, Scott. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:17:24I was going to say D. C, I think we've referenced before continues to perform very well. It's exceeding pre COVID levels clearly with the inauguration this year and all the activity in D. C. Off to a very good start. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:17:38So I think that is an asset, assuming the capital markets continue to be constructive, that we would potentially test the market later this year. And then Atlanta is really an asset we continue to evaluate the right business model in terms of balancing, putting CapEx into it, what's the return on investment on that, what's the highest and best use of the asset in terms of what we're targeting and things like that. And again, also just trying to raise the cash flow. So I would say we continue to evaluate both assets in terms of an exit. We think our marks are appropriate in terms of where we have it. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:18:26On the D. C. Asset, we did put on asset level financing and so that is not debt capital for us. That's generating a nice levered return. The Atlanta asset is also generating cash flow, although below the type of return that we'd like to see on our capital, but both of them are at least contributing to income. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:18:47So we're not going to be a hurry up to sell. So if we can get the right price on either one, we would sell later this year. Jade RahmaniManaging Director at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW)00:18:57Thanks a lot. Operator00:18:59Thank you. Our next question comes from Steve Delaney with Citizens JMP Securities. You may proceed. Steve DelaneyDirector of Mortgage at Citizens JMP Securities, LLC00:19:07Good morning, everyone. Happy New Year. Good to be on with you this morning. I wanted to talk about the portfolio, $7,100,000,000 at the end of the year. It sounds like I know you have some non earning assets in the REO, other things that you've gathered about, but it sounds like you might be slightly under levered in your core portfolio. Steve DelaneyDirector of Mortgage at Citizens JMP Securities, LLC00:19:32Given what you're seeing in terms of new attractive bridge loans, could that portfolio grow over the next six to twelve months to $7,500,000,000 8 billion dollars Is that feasible with your current portfolio? Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:19:45Yes, absolutely. I mean, it's really just a matter of timing. We had some large repayments come in at the end of the year, and we have, as Stuart mentioned, a large pipeline of deals, so, that are in closing, one of which did already close this quarter and a few will be coming. So if you just think of it, as we take that capital that we have sitting there and invest it and then there will be senior mortgages that we lever, easily could see the portfolio growing by $500,000,000 pretty easily. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:20:16Yes. And Steve, just to put a finer point on that, like there is an abundant supply of capital available for back leverage for us as we seek to do new deals and use leverage to get to ROE. So to Scott's point, as we find things that are interesting, there's a chance for us to lever that equity and grow the portfolio a bit. Steve DelaneyDirector of Mortgage at Citizens JMP Securities, LLC00:20:42Yes. So the banks aren't so much competing with you for bridge loans, but they're more than happy to lend to you to finance your bridge loans. Is that the way we should think about it? Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:20:55Yes, there's plenty. Yes, I think whatever they like to say about their headline sort of on balance sheet activities, they're very active behind the scenes looking to provide leverage. Steve DelaneyDirector of Mortgage at Citizens JMP Securities, LLC00:21:07There seem to be some green shoots. We heard it from you, Stuart. And in addition, let's just talk domestic, but it sounds like The UK has been something really nice for you guys to tap in. But the nature of the bridge loans today versus maybe nine to twelve months, I think it seems for a while there that the market the commercial real estate market was kind of stuck and everybody was refinancing properties, but there didn't seem to necessarily be fresh new projects with new equity coming in through real estate investors tackling new projects. Are you seeing in your bridge loans now more new business plans and new properties? Steve DelaneyDirector of Mortgage at Citizens JMP Securities, LLC00:21:55Or are we still in this mode of where we're moving money around loans around from bank to bank, but there's not as much financing on bridge loans of new projects as it is just the old stuff. Just curious if there's if the animal spirits have been aroused within the real estate development and equity investor community? Thank you. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:22:22Look, as I mentioned in the opening remarks and Scott could add some color as well, we're definitely seeing people coming off the sidelines for lack of a better phrase, and starting to look for reasons to put capital to work. So there's definitely I'd say, look, absent the office space where it's generally sort of people playing for time, for lack of a better phrase. I think you are starting to see, as Scott mentioned in his remarks, whether it's data center, multifamily, industrial, people looking for ways to put capital into assets that they think work from a long term perspective. So not fully backed, but definitely I would say people getting off the sidelines and recognizing that if they've got capital that they've raised for investment, they need to deploy that capital. I don't know, Scott, feel free to add some commentary. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:23:33No, I Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:23:33think that is. I mean, I think just looking at our overall platform, I think last year about a quarter of it was for acquisitions. And as Drew mentioned, we deployed $16,000,000,000 globally in loans. So certainly a lot of acquisitions, but a lot of the stuff could be recently built, new construction stuff. I mean, sometimes people are bringing in new investors and recapping. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:23:56So the markets are certainly fully functioning activity, but at the same time, a lot of people don't need or want to sell. They think there's upside in cash flows and certainly they think at some point interest rates will go down, which will lower cap rates even further. Steve DelaneyDirector of Mortgage at Citizens JMP Securities, LLC00:24:20Very helpful. Thank you both for your comments. Operator00:24:24Thank you. Our next question comes from John Nicodemus with BTIG. You may proceed. John NickodemusVice President, Equity Research at BTIG00:24:32Hi, good morning, everyone. Yes, just kind of an extension of what Steve was just asking. Obviously, I've heard the phrase extended pretend a ton in recent quarters. But kind of with that rate uncertainty to start 2025, I'm just curious sort of the instances of borrowers looking to extend into what they believe could be a more favorable rate environment down the line regardless of what's going on with the asset underlying the loans. So just sort of if you're seeing much of that or just any real changes you've noticed with borrowers and how they're proceeding to start 2025 given everything that's transpired in the past couple of months would be really helpful. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:25:07Scott, you want to take that? Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:25:10Yes. Look, I mean, we certainly look from our perspective, we've been never doing the extend for 10. We want to make sure that sponsor is the right sponsor at the right basis to sign leases or do deals and has capital. But I think to my earlier point, people certainly have a lot more visibility and transparency in terms of where they think things are heading, whether that be office or multifamily and things like that and kind of also have worked through what's in their portfolio and kind of have decided what their winners are or not. So not to say it's not going to continue. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:25:48I still think there's a lot of challenges in particular in office in markets that still have its way to work through, whether that be because something has a long term lease that hasn't expired yet or still people are trying to figure out what they're going to do with it. But I think people clearly have a good sense on things. John NickodemusVice President, Equity Research at BTIG00:26:14Great. Really helpful and that's all for me. Thank you. Operator00:26:19Thank you. Our next question comes from Harsh Mounani with Green Street. You may proceed. Harsh HemnaniEquity Research Analyst at Green Street Advisors, LLC00:26:30Thank you. So it seemed like a couple of the highlighted transactions in 4Q were somewhat stabilized, especially maybe the retail asset in UK. Could you sort of touch on the spreads that you might see on these types of stabilized assets and how they might differ from the more transitional assets that you're typically doing? Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:26:55Scott, you want to talk about spreads in the market these days? Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:26:58Yes. Look, I mean, I think overall, you've heard from you'll hear from us and others, certainly spreads have over the past year, eighteen months that have come in. But at the same time, the financing spreads have come in a lot, driven by the bank's appetite to put out warehouse and also in The U. S, the reemergence of the CRE CLO market, where you can see those spreads that have come in dramatically. So, I would say even with tighter loan spreads, we're still able to generate our mid teen returns. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:27:32As far as stable spreads versus kind of transitional spreads, again, it's very much dependent on deals. Generally, as you think of property types or location, a hotel deal, for example, is generally could be stable and still at a wider spread than a multifamily or would be at a wider spread than a multifamily. So I think there are some nuances there. But at the same time, if we're doing a tighter spread and a more stable asset, generally the financing that we then get on that asset ourselves is better, either that be a higher advance rate and or a tighter spread. So generally, we're working towards the same levered return, whether it be a more stable asset or more transitional asset. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:28:22But I would say generally spreads these days for what we're doing are kind of high 2s to low 4s over, right? And then call it an upfront fee. Harsh HemnaniEquity Research Analyst at Green Street Advisors, LLC00:28:40Got it. That's super helpful. And so maybe against sort of the backdrop of improving capital markets liquidity transaction volumes picking up, It seems like a good time to get into sort of the higher risk loans. But on the other hand, you can meet your return hurdles with stabilized loans at this point in the cycle. So how do you sort of weigh those two and as you evaluate where you deploy new dollars? Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:29:15Go ahead, Scott. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:29:16Yes. I mean, look, we're obviously risk is in the eye of the beholder. We're very focused on downside protection and being senior in the capital structure. And right now, we don't feel we need to be pushing leverage or business plans to get to the returns that we want. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:29:40We're very comfortable in doing the moderate leverage that we've been doing for the past few years and with the sponsors and the deal types we like. So there are certainly others who may need to push leverage or do more or searching kind of for a higher return or kind of more coming at it from an equity bend. And there's lots of deals that we do in ARI, for example, where the senior lender and there will be mezz or preferred equity behind us. And we're very happy at our basis and getting to our return. Harsh HemnaniEquity Research Analyst at Green Street Advisors, LLC00:30:17Got it. And last one from me, you mentioned previously CLOs in there and given sort of the less transitional assets in the new originations, Could we expect ARI to be in the CLO market at some point in 2025, '20 '20 '6? Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:30:38No. I mean, look, we obviously always evaluate the market. We're an active participant both as Apollo, both kind of investing in the market and actually underwriting and creating CRE CLOs. So we're well versed in what's happening, what's going on. We thankfully have some very good financing partners that we work with well, who I think gives us a lot of the flexibility that we'd like to have in our warehouse loans. Scott WeinerChief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:31:07I think our borrowers appreciate that their information is not out in the public domain when they do a loan with us. And so reality is we can get a similar cost of funds with more flexibility and something our borrowers refer. And also things always come up on loans, not necessarily bad things, but things kind of change and we like having the flexibility to do what we want and not have to go back to a borrower and say, oh, we have to go talk to a servicer and do this and that. So I don't anticipate us using the theory solo market anytime. Harsh HemnaniEquity Research Analyst at Green Street Advisors, LLC00:31:45Okay. Thank you. Operator00:31:48Thank you. I would now like to turn the call back over to Stuart Rothstein for any closing remarks. Stuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance00:31:54Thank you, operator. Thanks to those of you who who are participating this morning. And as always, Hillary, Anastasia, myself, to the extent people have follow-up questions, modeling questions, we're always around. Thank you all. Operator00:32:10Thank you. This concludes the conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.Read moreParticipantsExecutivesStuart RothsteinPresident & Chief Executive OfficerAnastasia MironovaCFOScott WeinerChief Investment OfficerAnalystsRichard ShaneAnalyst at JP MorganJade RahmaniManaging Director at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW)Steve DelaneyDirector of Mortgage at Citizens JMP Securities, LLCJohn NickodemusVice President, Equity Research at BTIGHarsh HemnaniEquity Research Analyst at Green Street Advisors, LLCPowered by