Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. ( ARI - Snapshot Report ) , a commercial mortgage real estate investment trust (REIT), recently priced an underwritten public offering of 7 million shares to increase its liquidity. To cover over-allotments, Apollo Commercial also plans to offer an option to underwriters for purchase of an additional tranche in excess of 1 million shares. The offering is expected to close on October 9, 2012.

J.P. Morgan - part of J.P Morgan Chase & Co ( JPM - Analyst Report ) ; BofA Merrill Lynch - part of Bank of America Corporation ( BAC - Analyst Report ) ; and Citigroup - part of Citigroup, Inc ( C - Analyst Report ) acted as joint book-running managers for the offering.

Apollo Commercial expects to utilize the proceeds to acquire certain assets which include commercial first mortgage loans, commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), subordinate financings and other commercial real estate-related debt investments and for general corporate purposes.

Headquartered in New York, Apollo Commercial primarily acquires, invests, and manages debt instruments throughout the U.S. Over the years, the company has actively deployed capital in commercial real estate debt investments with attractive returns.

Apollo Commercial is currently focused on a diversified portfolio of performing commercial real estate mortgage loans and CMBS assets that provides stable yet attractive cash flow yields to shareholders. As of June 30, 2012 cash and cash equivalents stood at $11.9 million with approximately $105 billion of assets under management.

Apollo Commercial currently retains a Zacks #3 Rank, which translates into a short-term Hold rating. We have a long-term Neutral recommendation on the stock.