Investors bullish on Athene Holding’s capital raise

Bermuda-based Athene Holding has been able to significantly upscale its private placement from an initial equity target of $500 million; securing $1.048 billion of primary equity commitments.

The funds form part of a round of pre-IPO funding and provide some indication of investor appetite for the company and its offering.

Chip Gillis, CEO of Athene Life Re, tells Bermuda:Re that after going out to market aiming to raise $500 million, the offering was “well oversubscribed”, leading to a significant upsizing of the firm’s capital raise.

Commenting on the transaction, Athene CEO Jim Belardi says: “We are pleased to report that this offering garnered significant demand from a number of the world’s most prominent institutional investors.”

“The additional equity capital from this round of funding will bolster our efforts to achieve a ratings upgrade, which will benefit our retail platform and lower our cost of funds.”

“Increasing our equity capital by more than $1 billion reinforces our financial strength and leadership position in the retirement savings market, and provides capital to further support Athene’s multi-channel growth strategy in advance of Athene’s IPO.”

Athene Life Re boasts $44.7 billion of total assets, total reserves of $40.9 billion and total equity of $3.8 billion.

Athene Life Re was among the first wave of life and annuity to enter the Bermuda market and has established itself as a leading player in the US retirement re/insurance sector.