Is Apollo IPO Next?

Leon Black's Apollo Management is said to be considering an initial public offering.

According to a CNBC report Tuesday, the firm has hired Goldman Sachs to advise it. A call to Goldman's head of equity capital markets, Stephen Pierce in New York, was directed to a spokeswoman, who was unable to comment. Black was not available to comment at his Manhattan office, nor was an external spokesman for the firm.

The news comes less than a month after the Blackstone Group set plans to offer some $4 billion in stock in an effort to reward executives and bring big private equity cachet to mom-and-pop investors. Blackstone's move, together with a successful offering earlier this year by Fortress (FIG Quote), has encouraged a number of shops to at least consider shopping shares publicly.

The report didn't provide any details about the offering, including the expected size. But CNBC said Goldman had been hired by Apollo and ventured that the hiring might explain the white-shoe investment bank's absence from the IPO underwriting team running Blackstone's blockbuster.

Apollo already has a unit called Apollo Investment (AINV Quote), a so-called business development company, that went public in 2004. It also floated shares in the U.K. via an affiliate on the Euronext exchange in Amsterdam, as did KKR.

Apollo ranks eighth in deal volume with 18 deals totaling $58 billion since the start of 2006, according to Dealogic. Goldman's equity group ranks fourth with $112 billion, while KKR, with $190 billion, ranks first.