Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. Provides $50 Million Mezzanine Loan for Office Portfolio

NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 11/15/13 -- Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (the "Company" or "ARI") (NYSE: ARI) today announced the closing of a $50 million mezzanine loan secured by a pledge of the equity interests in a borrower that owns a portfolio of seven office parks throughout Florida. With the closing of this mezzanine loan, ARI's commercial real estate debt investment activity year-to-date totals $481.4 million.

The office parks comprise 36 buildings totaling approximately 4.2 million square feet and are located in Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. The mezzanine loan is part of a $450 million, five-year (three year initial term with two one-year extension options) floating rate loan consisting of a $400 million first mortgage and ARI's $50 million mezzanine loan. ARI's loan basis represents an underwritten loan-to-value ratio of 82%. The mezzanine loan was underwritten to generate an internal rate of return ("IRR") of approximately 12%(1).

The Company also announced today it received a $22.0 million principal repayment from a subordinate financing secured by a retail center in Woodbridge, Virginia. ARI realized a 15% IRR on this investment.

(1)The IRR for the investment listed above reflects the return underwritten by ACREFI Management, LLC, the Company's external manager (the "Manager"), calculated on a weighted average basis assuming no dispositions, early prepayments or defaults but assuming that extension options are exercised. IRR is the annualized effective compounded return rate that accounts for the time-value of money and represents the rate of return on an investment over a holding period expressed as a percentage of the investment. It is the discount rate that makes the net present value of all cash outflows (the costs of investment) equal to the net present value of cash inflows (returns on investment). It is derived from the negative and positive cash flows resulting from or produced by each transaction (or for a transaction involving more than one investment, cash flows resulting from or produced by each of the investments), whether positive, such as investment returns, or negative, such as transaction expenses or other costs of investment, taking into account the dates on which such cash flows occurred or are expected to occur, and compounding interest accordingly. There can be no assurance that the actual IRRs will equal the underwritten IRRs shown above. See "Item 1A -- Risk Factors -- The Company may not achieve its underwritten internal rate of return on its investments which may lead to future returns that may be significantly lower than anticipated" included in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 for a discussion of some of the factors that could adversely impact the returns received by the Company from the investment described above over time.

About Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc.
Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE: ARI) is a real estate investment trust that primarily originates, invests in, acquires and manages performing commercial real estate mortgage loans, subordinate financings, CMBS and other commercial real estate-related debt investments throughout the U.S. The Company is externally managed and advised by ACREFI Management, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and an indirect subsidiary of Apollo Global Management, LLC, a leading global alternative investment manager with approximately $113 billion of assets under management at September 30, 2013.

Additional information can be found on the Company's website at www.apolloreit.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking statements as such term is defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and such statements are intended to be covered by the safe harbor provided by the same. Forward-looking statements are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and are generally beyond the Company's control. These forward-looking statements include information about possible or assumed future results of the Company's business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations, plans and objectives. When used in this release, the words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "plan," "continue," "intend," "should," "may" or similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Statements regarding the following subjects, among others, may be forward-looking: the anticipated timing of the repayment of investments; the return on equity; the yield on investments; the ability to borrow to finance assets; the Company's ability to deploy the proceeds of its capital raises or acquire its target assets; and risks associated with investing in real estate assets, including changes in business conditions and the general economy. For a further list and description of such risks and uncertainties, see the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements, and other risks, uncertainties and factors are based on the Company's beliefs, assumptions and expectations of its future performance, taking into account all information currently available to the Company. Forward-looking statements are not predictions of future events. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

CONTACT:
Hilary Ginsberg
Investor Relations
(212) 822-0767

Source: Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc.