Apollo’s Sunlight Financial SPAC Deal Hit With Court Challenge

Sunlight Financial Holdings Inc. investors sued Apollo Global Management Inc. and other architects of its blank-check merger, claiming shareholders were duped into participating in a disastrous deal that made millions for insiders.

The lawsuit, made public July 14, accuses the private equity giant of engineering a lopsided transaction that wiped out public stockholders while handing a windfall to its own affiliates and Sunlight’s senior leaders. The deal took Sunlight public by combining it with Spartan Acquisition Corp. II, a special purpose acquisition company backed by Apollo.

The proposed class action in Delaware’s Chancery Court is the latest in a steady ...