By Chibuike Oguh

NEW YORK Apollo Global Management Inc said on Tuesday its first-quarter adjusted net income fell 8% year-on-year, missing estimates, as a jump in management fees and investment income could not offset the impact of a drop in asset sales.

Like its peers, private equity firm Apollo was hit by a slump in dealmaking in the quarter that made it challenging to cash out of its private equity holdings for top dollar. Its asset management and retirement businesses, however, helped it cushion the blow.

Apollo said its adjusted net income fell to $845 million from $917 million a year earlier. That resulted in adjusted net income per share of $1.42, lower than the average analyst forecast of $1.47, according to Refinitiv data.

Apollo said its income from performance fees, which mostly relies on asset sales, shrunk by 96% to $8 million. Its peers Blackstone Inc, Carlyle Group Inc, and KKR & Co Inc have also reported a major slump in asset sales that weighed on their earnings in the first quarter.

Apollo generated nearly $400 million in fee-related earnings, a quarterly record that was up 28% from the previous year, driven by strong growth in management fees as it amassed more assets.

Its earnings from investing the assets of annuities provider Athene rose 2% to $688 million, helped by higher interest rates. Last year, those two earnings streams accounted for more than 90% of Apollo's total pre-tax earnings, and the New York-based firm has told investors that this will remain the case over the long term.

During the first quarter, Apollo's private equity portfolio appreciated by 5.1%, corporate credit funds gained 3.3%, while hybrid value funds rose 3.2%. By contrast, private equity funds of Blackstone, Carlyle and KKR appreciated by 2.8%, 1%, and 2%, respectively.

Under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), Apollo reported net income of $1 billion, compared with a net loss of $401 million, as it booked higher revenues from premiums underwritten by Athene.

Apollo took in $57 billion from fundraising and invested $33 billion on new assets in the first quarter, leaving $57 billion in unspent capital. Total assets under management stood at nearly $600 billion at the end of March. It declared a dividend of 43 cents per share.

(Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)