Apollo, Varde pull out of race for Altico Capital

Apollo Global Management LLC and Varde Partners LP are no longer considering bidding for Altico Capital India Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter, narrowing the number of suitors for the troubled shadow lender. The firms pulled out because they were unwilling to meet creditor demands to inject as much as 20 billion rupees ($280 million) of fresh equity into Altico, two people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. A spokesman for Apollo confirmed its withdrawal while Varde declined to comment. That leaves Cerberus Capital Management LP, SSG Capital Management, and Kotak Investment Advisors Ltd. in the race for the real-estate focused lender, three people said. Representatives for Cerberus, SSG and Kotak declined to comment.