Dylan Foo, a 20-plus-year infrastructure industry veteran, has been terminated from his position as head of infrastructure at Apollo Global Asset Management.
According to an Apollo spokesperson: “Apollo does not tolerate conduct or actions that violate the firm’s policies or undermine its culture. Dylan Foo was terminated from his position after a thorough review determined that he behaved inappropriately towards an Apollo employee and violated firm policies. Mr. Foo’s conduct was unrelated to the company’s operations or financial condition of Apollo, its infrastructure funds and any other Apollo funds. We remain fully committed to our infrastructure team and strategy.
“Olivia Wassenaar, who co-leads our sustainability and infrastructure group and the firm’s sustainable investing platform, will act as interim head of infrastructure. We have seven partners and 30 dedicated investment professionals in the infrastructure franchise.”
Apollo says Foo’s termination will not trigger a key man clause for the firm’s infrastructure funds. Foo declined to comment when approached by Infrastructure Investor.
Foo joined Apollo after leaving AMP Capital in 2019 during an exodus of senior talent from the firm that predated the tenure of Boe Pahari as chief executive and the turmoil that followed. He was employed at AMP Capital for about 13 years, most recently serving as its head of infrastructure equity in the Americas.
Foo’s termination comes after his former co-head of infrastructure, Geoff Strong, left the firm late last year. Strong was nearly 12 years into the role, and left Foo as the sole department leader.
Currently, Apollo is raising its third infrastructure flagship – Apollo Infrastructure Opportunities III – after launching the vehicle at the end of last year. It is thought to be targeting $4 billion, a significant increase from its $2.54 billion predecessor fund that closed at the end of 2021. Foo, who oversaw that fundraise, claimed at the time that it had met its target range of $2 billion-$3 billion, but did not reach its hard-cap of $3.5 billion.
Foo’s exit lands a further blow to an infrastructure franchise that has, arguably, been slow to form in the first place. Indeed, Apollo’s reputation as an infrastructure newbie was something Foo noted during an interview with Infrastructure Investor this spring. “I think it’s fair to say we were one of the later entrants to the infrastructure funds market versus our traditional peers,” he said, outlining his vision for Apollo’s infrastructure business.
“Just because infrastructure is a long-duration asset class, don’t fall in love with your assets. We’re here to generate a financial return… we’re not playing the AUM game like I think some folks are,” he explained. “Our vision for the franchise was to do something different. The world didn’t need another large-cap infrastructure fund.”
Updated: 21 August 2023 at 4:45PM ET to reflect Foo’s response when contacted by Infrastructure Investor.