Athene Closes $6 Billion in Pension Risk Transfer Transactions During 2019

Athene Holding Ltd. (“Athene”) (NYSE: ATH), a leading retirement services company, announced it has reached approximately $6.0 billion in total pension risk transfer (PRT) transactions for 2019, which includes approximately $800 million from a recently completed funded reinsurance transaction with a leading U.K. insurance company.

Under the terms of Athene’s inaugural transaction in the U.K. market, which closed December 19, 2019, the Company will reinsure a block of pension benefit liabilities through its wholly owned subsidiary Athene Life Re International Ltd.

In a few short years, Athene has become a leader in the PRT industry, managing pension payments for more than 168,000 annuitants. Since 2017, Athene has closed 16 pension risk transfer transactions totaling nearly $11 billion.

“We are excited about our progress within the PRT business during the last few years,” said Bill Wheeler, President of Athene. “This year alone we have closed on more than twice the volume we closed on in all of 2018 – all with attractive targeted returns. As a leader in the U.S. pension risk transfer market, we are now pleased to bring our strength and expertise to offer solutions to companies in the U.K. pension market as a reinsurance partner to domestic insurers.”

Sean Brennan, EVP of Pension Risk Transfer and Flow Reinsurance at Athene, noted, “Similar to the prospects we continue to see in the U.S., we anticipate the U.K. PRT market could also be an attractive long-term growth opportunity for Athene. Our differentiated investment, actuarial, risk-management, and operational capabilities, combined with our strong balance sheet, position us well to serve the £2.3 trillion¹ (approximately $3 trillion USD) U.K. defined benefit marketplace. Our recent transaction represents Athene’s ability to provide a reinsurance risk transfer solution in a complex and evolving landscape.”

¹Hymans Robertson LLP, Risk Transfer Report, November 2018

About Athene Holding Ltd.

Athene, through its subsidiaries, is a leading retirement services company that issues, reinsures and acquires retirement savings products designed for the increasing number of individuals and institutions seeking to fund retirement needs. The products offered by Athene include:

• Retail fixed, fixed indexed and index-linked annuity products;
• Reinsurance arrangements with third-party annuity providers; and
• Institutional products, such as funding agreements and group annuity contracts related to pension risk transfers.

Athene had total assets of $144.2 billion as of September 30, 2019. Athene's principal subsidiaries include Athene Annuity & Life Assurance Company, a Delaware-domiciled insurance company, Athene Annuity and Life Company, an Iowa-domiciled insurance company, Athene Annuity & Life Assurance Company of New York, a New York-domiciled insurance company and Athene Life Re Ltd., a Bermuda-domiciled reinsurer.