Life Group Athene Announces Intention to Launch IPO
November 28, 2016 by David Pilla
PEMBROKE, Bermuda – Bermuda-based Athene Holding Ltd. said it is launching an initial public offering of its Class A common shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “ATH.”
All of the 23.8 million shares in the IPO are being sold by certain shareholders of Athene, and Athene will not receive any proceeds from the IPO, the life insurer and reinsurer said in a statement. The IPO price is expected to be between $38 and $42 a share, Athene said in a statement.
Athene said the IPO’s underwriters may also exercise a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 3.6 million Class A common shares from certain of the Athene-selling shareholders at the IPO price, less the underwriting discount.
Goldman, Sachs & Co.; Barclays; Citigroup; and Wells Fargo Securities are acting as joint bookrunners of the offering and representatives of the underwriters.
In a Form S-1 registration statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Athene said Class A common shareholders currently represent about 55% of the company’s aggregate voting power.
An Athene spokesperson said the company is in a quiet period and can’t say more about the IPO outside its SEC statement.
Athene said in May it intended to file a registration statement for an IPO but didn’t yet have details (Best’s News Service, May 10, 2016).
In its S-1 statement, Athene said since its 2009 inception, the group has grown to $73.1 billion in investments, including related parties; $71.6 billion in invested assets; and $87.0 billion of total assets as of Sept. 30, 2016.
The group said on a consolidated basis, for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2016, its net income was $437 million. For the year 2015 net income was $562 million.
Athene added through its multiple distribution channels “we will be able to profitably grow through our organic channels, including retail, flow reinsurance (a transaction in which the ceding company cedes a portion of newly issued policies to the reinsurer) and institutional products.”
The company added “in more challenging market environments, we believe that we will see additional opportunities to grow through our inorganic channels, including acquisitions and block reinsurance (a transaction in which the ceding company cedes all or a portion of a block of previously issued annuity contracts through a reinsurance agreement), due to market stress during those periods.”
The group’s main subsidiaries include Athene Annuity & Life Assurance Co., domiciled in Delaware; Athene Annuity and Life Co., an Iowa-domiciled insurance company; Athene Annuity & Life Assurance Company of New York and Athene Life Insurance Company of New York; Athene Life Re Ltd., a Bermuda-domiciled reinsurer; and Athene Deutschland, a Germany-based life insurance company.
All of these entities except Athene Deutschland have current Best’s Financial Strength Ratings of A- (Excellent).
(By David Pilla, news editor, BestWeek: David.Pilla@ambest.com)
