Athene Holding Ltd. (NYSE: ATH-PA)

Athene Holding Ltd. is a leading financial services company that specializes in issuing reinsuring and acquiring retirement savings products for individuals and institutions. The company focuses on generating spread income by sourcing long term persistent liabilities and leveraging Apollo's asset management to originate assets with preferred risk return characteristics. It operates primarily in the retirement savings and annuity market.

The company generates revenue primarily from the spread between investment earnings on assets that support its liabilities and the cost of funds which includes interest credited to policyholders option costs on indexed products guarantee expenses and issuance maintenance and distribution charges. Additional fee income comes from private placement variable annuities income riders and other advisory services. Product offerings consist of annuities (fixed rate indexed payout and group) and funding agreements (including those issued under the FABN program FABR program direct issuances to the Federal Home Loan Bank and long term repurchase agreements) as well as life and other products such as life insurance and guaranteed investment contracts.

The company operates through the following segments: Retail Flow Reinsurance Institutional and Acquisitions and Block Reinsurance.

• The Retail segment originates deferred annuity products that are distributed through a network of independent marketing organizations banks and broker dealers offering fixed rate indexed and payout annuities with a focus on high quality products and service to policyholders.

• The Flow Reinsurance segment partners with insurance companies to assume flow reinsurance liabilities providing attractive crediting rates and includes recurring premium from block reinsurance transactions targeting spread based liabilities such as fixed indexed annuities MYGAs traditional fixed deferred annuities immediate annuities whole life universal life and indexed universal life products.

• The Institutional segment includes funding agreements guaranteed investment contracts pension group annuity transactions and group fixed indexed annuities for defined contribution plans working with institutions to transfer pension obligations and offering stable value fund products.

• The Acquisitions and Block Reinsurance segment grows the business by acquiring whole companies or assuming blocks of business through reinsurance managing the acquired liabilities and reinvesting the associated assets while focusing on liabilities that match the company's core strategy and using mortality and longevity reinsurance to mitigate risk.

Athene Holding Ltd. holds a leading position in the retirement services market supported by a broad distribution network and strong brand recognition among consumers and institutions. Its competitive advantages stem from the relationship with Apollo which provides access to a global asset management platform for sourcing high grade assets and from its disciplined risk management approach that targets mid teen returns across market cycles. Key competitors include other large annuity providers insurance companies and reinsurers that compete on pricing product features financial strength and distribution capabilities.

The company serves individuals seeking retirement savings through retail channels such as independent marketing organizations banks and broker dealers. It also serves institutional customers including pension plans defined contribution plans stable value funds and the Federal Home Loan Bank. Insurance companies that purchase flow reinsurance or block reinsurance and corporate sponsors of pension group annuity transactions form another important part of its customer base.