A $1 Billion Check Helped Apollo Clinch Year's Biggest LBO

When Apollo Global Management agreed to buy home security company ADT Corp. in February for $12.3 billion, it knew that financing a deal during a credit market slump would be hard. The private-equity giant found an ally in Canada.

A lending arm of one of Canada’s largest pensions, the Public Sector Pension Plan Investment Board, agreed to buy $1 billion of a type of bond that many investors were wary of at the time, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Affiliates of the private-equity firm committed to buy another $500 million of similar debt.