Athene enters pension buyout agreement with GE

Athene Holding, the retirement services company, has entered a pension buyout agreement with GE.

Athene's wholly-owned Iowa-domiciled life insurance subsidiary, Athene Annuity and Life Company (AAIA) and its wholly-owned New York-domiciled life insurance subsidiary Athene Annuity & Life Assurance Company of New York (AANY) will provide annuity benefits for approximately 70,000 retirees who are currently receiving benefits from GE's pension plan.

In aggregate, GE is transferring approximately $1.7 billion in pension obligations to Athene.

AAIA and AANY will each issue a group annuity contract to GE and individual annuity certificates to applicable retirees. AAIA and AANY will have direct payment responsibility for all the liabilities covered in this transaction.

Kim Rosenberg, head of pension risk transfer at Athene, said: "Retirees covered by this transaction can be confident they receive the same pension benefit, on the same schedule, as what they currently receive."

Bill Wheeler, president of Athene, said: "Our differentiated investment, actuarial, risk-management, and operational capabilities, combined with our strong balance sheet, position us well to serve the multi-trillion dollar defined benefit marketplace."

Athene partners with plan sponsors and intermediaries on more than $16 billion of transactions to support more than 275,000 annuitants.