As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 9, 2016

Registration No. 333-            

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-8

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

ATHENE HOLDING LTD.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

96 Pitts Bay Road

Pembroke, HM08, Bermuda

(441) 279-8400

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

Amended and Restated Athene Holding Ltd. 2009 Share Incentive Plan

Amended and Restated Athene Holding Ltd. 2012 Share Incentive Plan

Athene Holding Ltd. 2014 Share Incentive Plan

Athene Holding Ltd. 2016 Share Incentive Plan

(Full title of the plan)

CT Corporation System

111 Eighth Avenue

New York, New York 10011

(212) 894-8940

(Name, address and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Copies to:

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

PART I

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE SECTION 10(A) PROSPECTUS

All information required by Part I to be contained in the prospectus is omitted from this Registration Statement in accordance with the explanatory note to Part I of Form S-8 and Rule 428 under the Securities Act. This Registration Statement on Form S-8 is filed by Athene Holding Ltd. (the “Company” or “Registrant”) regarding the Amended and Restated Athene Holding Ltd. 2009 Share Incentive Plan, the Amended and Restated Athene Holding Ltd. 2012 Share Incentive Plan, the Athene Holding Ltd. 2014 Share Incentive Plan and the Athene Holding Ltd. 2016 Share Incentive Plan (collectively, the “Plans”). Documents containing the information required by Part I of the Registration Statement will be sent or given to Plan Participants as specified by Rule 428(b)(1) under the Securities Act.

PART II

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

The rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) allow the Registrant to “incorporate by reference” information into this Registration Statement. This means that the Registrant can disclose important information to you by referring you to another document.

The Registrant incorporates herein by reference the following documents which have been filed by the Registrant with the Commission:

All documents filed by the Registrant pursuant to Section 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act after the date of this Registration Statement and prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement indicating that all securities offered have been sold or which deregisters all securities then remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference into this Registration Statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of such documents.

Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any other subsequently filed document which also is or is deemed to be incorporated by reference herein modifies or supersedes such statement. Any such statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this Registration Statement.

The Registrant’s common shares are registered under Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act.

Not applicable.

Our bye-laws provide that our directors will not be liable for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty.

Our bye-laws provide that we will indemnify our directors and officers. Our bye-laws provide for the indemnification of officers and directors acting on our behalf if the director or officer acted in good faith and in a manner reasonably believed to be in and not opposed to our best interest, and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, the indemnified party had no reason to believe his or her conduct was unlawful. Our directors and officers will not be indemnified by us if they seek indemnification from us for any acts or omissions in their capacity as directors or officers of Athene Asset Management, L.P., our investment adviser.

We have entered into indemnification agreements with each of our executive officers and directors, in addition to the indemnification provided for in our charter documents, and we intend to enter into indemnification agreements with any new directors and executive officers in the future. The indemnification agreements provide that we will indemnify our directors and officers or any person appointed to any committee by the board of directors acting in their capacity as such for any loss arising or liability attaching to them by virtue of any rule of law in respect of any negligence, default, breach of duty or breach of trust of which such person may be guilty in relation to us other than in respect of such person’s own fraud or dishonesty. However, we are required to indemnify our directors and officers in any proceeding in which they are successful. The indemnification agreements are limited to those payments that are lawful under Bermuda law.

We have purchased and intend to maintain insurance on behalf of us and any person who is or was a director or officer against any loss arising from any claim asserted against him or her and incurred by him or her in that capacity, subject to certain exclusions and limits of the amount of coverage.

Not applicable.

The exhibits are listed in the Exhibit Index below.

The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:

(1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement:

(i) To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933;

(ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of this Registration Statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in this Registration Statement;

(iii) To include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the Registration Statement or any material change to such information in this Registration Statement;

provided, however, that paragraphs (1)(i) and (1)(ii) do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in periodic reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the Registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement.

(2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.

The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each filing of the Registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act and each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that is incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act of 1933 and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted against the Registrant by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act of 1933 and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

Signatures

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), the registrant has duly caused this registration statement on Form S-8 to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in Pembroke, Bermuda, on the 9^th day of December, 2016.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act, this Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities indicated below as of December 9, 2016:

EXHIBIT INDEX