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Apollo and two former executives of its insurance affiliate Athene have settled a dispute over alleged industrial espionage just days before it was headed to a high-profile trial.
According to a filing in New York state court, the private equity titan and the two former executives, Stephen Cernich and Huan Tseng, reached a settlement agreement on Wednesday. Terms were not disclosed.
Apollo and lawyers for Cernich and Tseng did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The group accused the pair of aiding the “misconduct” of a former top Apollo partner, Imran Siddiqui, over an Athene rival that Siddiqui launched in 2017.
A 2019 arbitration ruling found Siddiqui and another Apollo executive, Ming Dang, breached their duty of loyalty to the private equity group in forming the rival firm, Caldera. The alleged misconduct included Dang secretly sharing Apollo and Athene documents with Siddiqui, who left Apollo in 2017, while Dang remained an Apollo employee.
Siddiqui and Dang were ordered to hand over just $1mn in damages in the arbitration, compared with the $300mn that Apollo sought. In the subsequent lawsuit, the buyout group sought $30mn in damages from Cernich and Tseng. The pair maintained they were unaware of Siddiqui’s obligation to Apollo.
Apollo’s market capitalisation now exceeds $80bn, largely underpinned by its private credit business which feeds into Athene. The trial would have included testimony from Apollo co-founder Marc Rowan, and shared previously secret details of the formation of Athene — a pioneer in the private equity-backed life insurance and annuities strategy that now dominates Wall Street.
Siddiqui, Dang, Cernich and Tseng today all are employed by Talcott Resolution, a life insurer owned by Sixth Street Partners, a top Apollo rival.
Athene has a separate action pending in Bermuda against Siddiqui and Cernich for fraud, breach of confidence and breach of fiduciary duty.
