Apollo Global Management has granted Kia Joorabchian's corporate group Sports Invest Holdings a loan of £40 million – secured by assets such as racehorses, stables, and interests in the football business. According to documents at Companies House, the interest rate is 10.25 percent.

The prominent player agent who arranged the British record transfer of Philippe Coutinho for £142 million from Liverpool to Barcelona in 2018 has secured the loan through several companies. These include AMO Racing, AMO Stables, and Sports Invest UK, which manages players "from youth to international level." Should Joorabchian default, Apollo could sell the collateral.

The deal highlights the strategic push of major private credit houses into the European sports market. Just in December, Apollo had lent £80 million to Nottingham Forest, also with hard collateral like the club's stadium. Its owner, Greek shipowner Evangelos Marinakis, is considered a close confidant of Joorabchian. Together, they appeared at auctions where the agent acquired new horses for AMO for £8 million – a few days after receiving the Apollo loan.

Joorabchian, a fixture in European football for two decades, now links both business fields: player transfers and horse racing. Just last week, AMO bought a mare by champion stallion Night Of Thunder for €3 million at the Arqana Yearling Sale in France - a record price.

With commitments like these, Apollo expands its presence in a segment that, beyond large clubs and leagues, previously had little access to institutional credit markets.