State Street, Apollo Debut Private-Debt ETF in Big Breakthrough

A novel private-credit ETF from State Street Corp. and Apollo Global Management Inc. started trading on Thursday, in a watershed moment for the $1.6 trillion industry.

The SPDR SSGA Apollo IG Public & Private Credit ETF debuted on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “PRIV.”

The two finance behemoths appear to have gained ground over rivals by offering an ETF with outsized exposure to the asset class, after Apollo pledged to originate a portion of investments for the vehicle, while also helping to provide intra-day price data.

While the ETF will cap ...