The Wire · Sponsors · 27 Aug 2026
Apollo funds and KKR partner to back Atlantic Aviation's growth
Two megafunds sharing one infrastructure asset is what happens when single-sponsor cheques stop clearing the return bar at current entry prices.
Our read
Consortium deals come back whenever entry prices outrun what one fund can underwrite alone. Two sponsors sharing an infrastructure platform is not a sign of scarcity of capital — there is plenty — it is a sign that the return math on a full cheque no longer clears the hurdle at the price the asset commands.
Infrastructure-adjacent services price on contracted position rather than growth. Fixed-base operations at airports are a good example of the category: the moat is a lease and a location, the revenue is a toll, and the buyer is underwriting duration rather than expansion. Those assets sit at the top of any band because the downside is legible.
The read-across for an ordinary operating business is about the shape of the moat, not the sector. If your revenue has something contractual or physical standing behind it — a long lease, an exclusive territory, a regulatory permission, a switching cost measured in months — you are being underwritten on duration and you should present the business that way.
If it does not, presenting duration you cannot document is the fastest way to lose the room during diligence.