Note 1 – Organization

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (together with its consolidated subsidiaries, is referred to throughout this report as the "Company," "ARI," "we," "us" and "our") is a corporation that has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust ("REIT") for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

We were formed in Maryland on June 29, 2009, commenced operations on September 29, 2009 and are externally managed and advised by ACREFI Management, LLC (the "Manager"), an indirect subsidiary of Apollo Global Management, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, "Apollo").

We elected to be taxed as a REIT under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, commencing with the taxable year ended December 31, 2009. To maintain our tax qualification as a REIT, we are required to distribute at least 90% of our taxable income, excluding net capital gains, to stockholders and meet certain other asset, income, and ownership tests.

On April 24, 2026 (the "Closing Date"), we sold our commercial real estate loan portfolio (other than loans that were repaid prior to closing and the Chicago Hotel Loan (as defined below) which was repaid after closing) (the "Asset Sale") to Athene Holding Ltd. ("Athene"), a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management, Inc. ("AGM," and together with its subsidiaries, "Apollo"), for cash consideration of approximately $8.6 billion. A portion of the proceeds from the Asset Sale were used to repay all of our secured credit facilities and a private securitization with Barclays Bank plc, as well as approximately $1.4 billion in principal balance of financing facilities and other indebtedness and to pay transaction expenses.