Funding Arrangement Will Advance Realty Income’s Private Capital Initiative with Leading Asset Manager
Initial Apollo Investment of $1.0 Billion for 49% Equity Interest in Portfolio of Existing U.S. Realty Income Retail Assets
Cost-Efficient Long-Term Equity with 100% Permanent Equity Treatment by Rating Agencies
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, and NEW YORK, NEW YORK, March 19, 2026 – Realty Income Corporation (Realty Income, NYSE: O), The Monthly Dividend Company®, and Apollo (NYSE: APO) today announced that Apollo-managed funds and affiliates intend to provide a $1.0 billion investment to Realty Income to acquire a 49% interest in a new joint venture entity that is expected to own a diversified portfolio of single-tenant retail properties subject to long-term net leases. Realty Income will continue to manage the portfolio, which includes approximately 500 retail assets that benefit from stable, contractual cash flows and are supported by Realty Income’s operating platform and long-standing asset management expertise.
“We are pleased to announce Apollo’s targeted equity investment in a highly diversified, income-producing portfolio. As real estate partner to the world’s leading companies®, we expect this partnership will serve as a template for a multi-billion-dollar, programmatic co-investing relationship in the U.S. Our size, scale, and longstanding commitment to providing dependable monthly dividends to investors make this a natural fit with Apollo’s insurance capital. Realty Income has demonstrated the ability to attract scaled commitments from partners looking to invest in our operating platform, and this new joint venture will further expand our access to efficient sources of private funding from one of the world’s leading financial institutions,” said Sumit Roy, Realty Income’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
Apollo Partner Jamshid Ehsani said, “This transaction represents a landmark deal in the public REIT space. We believe the combination of Apollo’s long-term capital with Realty Income’s large, growing and diversified portfolio of high-quality net lease assets creates a highly complementary partnership. This partnership with Realty Income represents a programmatic framework for long-term alignment and repeatable capital deployment over time.”
The joint venture represents a cornerstone component of Realty Income’s private capital initiative, which is designed to diversify the Company’s sources of capital and complement its access to the public equity markets. Realty Income expects the long-term partnership with Apollo to provide a scalable source of equity to support investment activity in long-duration, stabilized assets, while maintaining balance sheet strength and financial flexibility.
Realty Income CFO Jonathan Pong said, “This structured equity funding arrangement with Apollo is expected to unlock a source of meaningful savings relative to our long-term cost of public equity capital. Further, the cost of future tranches of this capital is expected to flex commensurate with long-term interest rates and will be priced independent of public markets, supporting a more stable source of equity. We are pleased that this structure has received permanent equity treatment by both Moody’s and S&P.”
Apollo Partner Joseph Jackson commented, “Realty Income is a leading global net lease real estate player with a long track record of disciplined growth and portfolio performance. Apollo’s intention to make a substantial upfront and anticipated follow-on investments into Realty Income’s high-quality assets demonstrates our ability to deliver differentiated capital solutions tailored to our partner’s objectives.”
Since 2020, Apollo has originated over $100 billion of bespoke capital solutions for leading companies such as Intel, Keurig Dr Pepper, Air France-KLM, BP, Sony, AB InBev, Vonovia and more.
The transaction is expected to close on March 31, 2026, subject to finalization and execution of the documentation, and customary closing conditions.
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC acted as exclusive structuring agent and financial advisor to Realty Income, and Wells Fargo Securities served as financial advisor to Apollo.
Transaction Highlights
Under the terms of the transaction, Realty Income is expected to receive $1.0 billion of gross proceeds in exchange for Apollo’s acquisition of a 49% interest in a joint venture that indirectly owns a diversified net lease portfolio comprised entirely of single-tenant retail properties. Realty Income will manage the properties under a long-term management agreement.
Realty Income will retain the right to exercise a call option to redeem Apollo’s equity interest after year 7 and through year 15 of the joint venture, with the future call price calculated to ensure a capped IRR of 6.875% to Apollo during its ownership period.
Key portfolio metrics of the anticipated portfolio, as of December 31, 2025, are as follows:
- Number of U.S. retail properties: ~500
- Cash annualized base rent: $140 million
- Weighted average remaining lease term: 9.1 years
- Investment grade exposure (as percentage of total portfolio base rent): 28%
- Compound annual contractual growth rate: 1.0%
- Top five industries: Dollar Stores (9.9%), Quick Service Restaurants (8.3%), Drug Stores (7.9%), Grocery (7.7%), Health & Fitness (7.5%)
Portfolio metrics are subject to finalization and may change based on the final composition of the portfolio.
Realty Income has published an investor presentation providing additional information on this transaction, which can be found at www.realtyincome.com/investors/investor-presentation.
About Realty Income
Realty Income (NYSE: O), an S&P 500 company, is real estate partner to the world’s leading companies®. Founded in 1969, we serve our clients as a full-service real estate capital provider. As of December 31, 2025, we have a portfolio of over 15,500 properties in all 50 U.S. states, the U.K., and eight other countries in Europe. We are known as “The Monthly Dividend Company®” and have a mission to invest in people and places to deliver dependable monthly dividends that increase over time. Since our founding, we have declared 669 consecutive monthly dividends and are a member of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats® index for having increased our dividend for over 31 consecutive years. Additional information about the company can be found at www.realtyincome.com.
About Apollo
Apollo is a high-growth, global alternative asset manager. In our asset management business, we seek to provide our clients excess return at every point along the risk-reward spectrum from investment grade credit to private equity. For more than three decades, our investing expertise across our fully integrated platform has served the financial return needs of our clients and provided businesses with innovative capital solutions for growth. Through Athene, our retirement services business, we specialize in helping clients achieve financial security by providing a suite of retirement savings products and acting as a solutions provider to institutions. Our patient, creative, and knowledgeable approach to investing aligns our clients, businesses we invest in, our employees, and the communities we impact, to expand opportunity and achieve positive outcomes. As of December 31, 2025, Apollo had approximately $938 billion of assets under management. To learn more, please visit www.apollo.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. When used in this press release, the words “estimate,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “believe,” “intend,” “continue,” “should,” “may,” “likely,” “plans,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include discussions of the joint venture with Apollo, including the execution and completion thereof, our ability to exercise the call right to redeem Apollo’s equity interest in the joint venture and the call price payable therefor, entry into subsequent joint ventures on a programmatic basis, our business and portfolio including management thereof, and the intentions of management and dividends, including the amount, timing and payment of dividends related thereto. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions about us, which may cause our actual future results to differ materially from expected results. Some of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are, among others, our ability to execute and close the joint venture on the anticipated terms, or at all, our and the joint venture’s financial performance; our continued qualification as a real estate investment trust; general domestic and foreign business, economic, or financial conditions; competition; fluctuating interest and currency rates; inflation and its impact on our clients and us; access to debt and equity capital markets and other sources of funding (including the terms and partners of such funding); volatility and uncertainty in the credit and financial markets; other risks inherent in the real estate business including our clients’ solvency, client defaults under leases, increased client bankruptcies, potential liability relating to environmental matters, illiquidity of real estate investments (including rights of first refusal or rights of first offer), and potential damages from natural disasters; impairments in the value of our real estate assets; volatility and changes in domestic and foreign laws and the application, enforcement or interpretation thereof (including with respect to tax laws and rates); property ownership through co-investment ventures, funds, joint ventures, partnerships and other arrangements which, among other things, may transfer or limit our control of the underlying investments; epidemics or pandemics; the loss of key personnel; the outcome of any legal proceedings to which we are a party or which may occur in the future; acts of terrorism and war; the anticipated benefits from mergers, acquisitions, co-investment ventures, funds, joint ventures, partnerships, and other arrangements; and those additional risks and factors discussed in our reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future plans and performance and speak only as of the date of this press release. Past operating results and performance are provided for informational purposes and are not a guarantee of future results. There can be no assurance that historical trends will continue. Actual plans and operating results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in this press release and forecasts made in the forward-looking statements discussed in this press release may not materialize. We do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements or publicly release the results of any forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date these statements were made.
Contacts
For Realty Income:
Jonathan Pong
Executive Vice President, CFO and Treasurer
+1 858 284 5177
jpong@realtyincome.com
For Apollo:
Noah Gunn
Global Head of Investor Relations
+1 (212) 822-0540
IR@apollo.com
Joanna Rose
Global Head of Corporate Communications
+1 (212) 822-0491
Communications@apollo.com
