Originally established under the umbrella of the group's long term strategic assets department, the business was spun out as a fully owned subsidiary of Allianz SE (formerly Allianz AG) in 2001.

In 2002, the New York office was opened and in 2003, APEP assumed responsibility for managing Dresdner Bank's private equity funds portfolio.
APEP is now the center of private equity excellence within the Allianz group with 48 employees, three offices, clients in Germany, the US and Italy and several billion euros under management.