AXA S.A. announces the successful completion of the sale of its remaining stake in AXA Equitable Holdings, Inc.*
November 13, 2019
published at 6:20 PM CET
- Key milestone in the transformation of AXA Group’s business profile
- Net proceeds** of ca. USD 3.1 billion for AXA Group from the sale of 144 million EQH shares
- An estimated 6 points of positive impact on AXA Group’s Solvency II ratio
AXA S.A. (“AXA”) announces today that it has successfully completed the sale of 144,000,000 shares*** of common stock of AXA Equitable Holdings, Inc. (“EQH”), in a registered public offering of those shares (the “Offering”).
The completion of the Offering has resulted in net proceeds2 to AXA of approximately USD 3.1 billion or approximately Euro 2.9 billion****, corresponding to a net price** of USD 21.80 per share.
Thomas Buberl
Chief Executive Officer of AXA
The successful sale of AXA’s remaining stake1 in EQH is a key milestone in AXA’s transformation journey. Our exit from the US Life & Savings market, along with the integration of XL Group has accelerated AXA’s strategic shift towards its preferred segments, and reduced significantly its exposure to financial markets.
This transaction further strengthens AXA’s balance sheet and provides additional financial flexibility for the Group to reduce its Debt Gearing to the lower end of its target range of 25%-28% by the end of 2020. I would like to thank our colleagues for their tremendous efforts over the past months to realize this great achievement in a very short period of time.
Today also marks an exciting new chapter for EQH, and we wish them all the best of luck and success for the future as one of the largest independent financial services companies in the US.
* Excluding 47,162,500 shares of common stock of EQH, primarily related to the EQH shares to be delivered on redemption of the AXA S.A. bonds mandatorily exchangeable into EQH shares, maturing in May 2021.
** Net of underwriting discounts and commissions.
*** Including 24,000,000 shares of common stock repurchased by EQH. EQH’s issued and outstanding common stock as of November 5, 2019 comprised 489,329,559 shares.
**** 1 Euro = 1.1011 USD as of November 12, 2019 (Source: Bloomberg).
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