Shake-Up of Apollo’s Energy Team Continues With Second Big Departure

(Bloomberg) -- Apollo Global Management Inc. has continued the shake-up of its natural resources team with Senior Partner Rakesh Wilson leaving the firm, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Wilson, who joined Apollo in 2009 and is based in New York, is in the process of departing, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

He is the second high-profile member of the firm’s natural resources team to relinquish his role on the team. The former head of the business, Gregory Beard, is transitioning to the role of adviser ahead of his 2020 departure from Apollo. Last month, Olivia Wassenaar and Geoff Strong were named co-heads of the team.

The shuffles come as EP Energy Corp. -- one of the buyout firm’s biggest energy bets -- holds talks with creditors vying for control of the oil and gas explorer through a debt restructuring likely include a pre-arranged bankruptcy filing.

A representative for Apollo declined to comment. Wilson didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Before joining Apollo, Wilson was a member of the commodities team at Morgan Stanley where he was responsible for generating, evaluating and executing investment ideas across the energy sector.

Wilson began his career at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in equity research, moving to its investment banking division and working in New York and Asia. He has served on the boards of companies including American Petroleum Partners and Resource Energy, according to his profile on Apollo’s website.

Apollo has invested in natural resources since 2001 and established its first fund targeting the sector in 2011, according to its website. Its natural resources franchise -- which focuses on energy, metals, mining and agriculture -- has $5 billion in assets under management.

In 2012, the firm led a $7.2 billion acquisition of EP Energy, El Paso Corp.’s oil and gas business, in the second-biggest private equity takeover of an energy producer at the time. The deal has been a bust. EP Energy is considering filing for bankruptcy protection, after losing money for years while struggling to service its heavy debt load.

Apollo owns about 30% of its equity, which is currently worth about $9 million, according to filings and data compiled by Bloomberg.

Apollo’s other investments in the sector include the energy explorers Double Eagle Energy Holdings III and Talos Energy Inc., according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kiel Porter in Chicago at kporter17@bloomberg.net;Gillian Tan in New York at gtan129@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Liana Baker at lbaker75@bloomberg.net, ;Alan Goldstein at agoldstein5@bloomberg.net, Michael Hytha, Matthew Monks

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