Apollo executives report that the firm itself ponied up some $15 million of that total war chest, and they estimate that roughly one-third of the total capital has been invested to date. One of the major plays was last year's purchase of the Haslemere Co., a $2-billion owner of office, retail and industrial assets. The purchase came with a 134-property portfolio.

A variety of US, European and Australian public employee retirement systems have also contributed to the fund, along with pension plans, banks, insurance companies and individual investors.

Senior Apollo partner Lee Neibert says the global thrust is in large part a reaction to the state of US investment. "When Apollo looked at the US markets for opportunities in 2001," he explains, "we concluded that the current environment would offer very few appropriate new investments for the next 24 to 36 months. However, as we expected, we have continued to identify attractive properties in Europe and to a smaller extent in Japan." Given the dearth of US-based opportunities, he adds that this global focus will be an "important part of our business going forward."

"To the extent that you've got well-leased core assets here there are opportunities here," says Apollo's William A. Scully. "To the extent that you don't there aren't.

"Not that many assets have come to market at what you would consider re-priced levels," he says. "Interest rates are so low that people are hanging onto assets. We're simply not going to see a lot of opportunities at levels that are interesting to us."

William Benjamin is head of the European investment practice. John Robertson, Chris Hoddell and Michael Pashley are also on the Apollo London team, and they supervise a group of 10 acquisitions, asset management, finance and dispositions professionals.