Q3 net income increased 117% year-over-year to $274 million

Q3 operating income, net of tax, increased 97% year-over-year to $231 million

Q3 ROE of 13.0%, Q3 Retirement Services operating ROE ex. AOCI and notables of 19.0%

Total investments, including related parties, increased 11% year-over-year to $81 billion

Invested assets of $79 billion, up 10% year-over-year

Executed two pension buyout transactions in October, for approximately $1 billion

PEMBROKE, Bermuda - November 6, 2017 - Athene Holding Ltd. ("Athene") (NYSE: ATH), a leading provider of retirement savings products, today announced financial results for the third quarter 2017.

Net income for the third quarter 2017 was $274 million, or $1.39 per diluted Class A share ("diluted share"), compared to net income in the third quarter 2016 of $126 million, or $0.68 per diluted share.

Operating income, net of tax¹ for the third quarter 2017 was $231 million, or $1.18 per operating diluted Class A share ("operating diluted share"), compared to operating income, net of tax for the third quarter 2016 of $117 million, or $0.64 per operating diluted share. Operating income, net of tax excluding notable items was $254 million, compared to $169 million in 2016.

"Record year-to-date new deposits of $8 billion² and a large pipeline of organic opportunities reflect the broad-based demand for our competitive retirement savings products. Momentum has accelerated in our institutional channel, and last month we executed our second and third PRT agreements, representing approximately $1 billion of pension obligations. Further, our high quality investment portfolio has delivered a 34 basis point² increase in our net investment earned rate so far in 2017," Mr. Belardi noted.

"Our efficient operating platform has supported this growth while maintaining our expense margins and increasing shareholders’ equity ex. AOCI by 23% over prior year. We’ve set the bar high for ourselves, and we are well on our way to accomplishing the goals we presented at the beginning of this year."

¹ This news release references certain Non-GAAP measures. See Non-GAAP Measures for additional discussion.

² For the nine months ended September 30, 2017.

¹ ALRe RBC ratio, which is used in evaluating our capital position and the amount of capital needed to support our segment, is calculated by applying the NAIC RBC factors to the Statutory Financial Statements of ALRe.

² Effective January 1, 2016, in connection with the implementation of its broader regulatory regime, the BMA integrated the EBS framework into the determination of BSCR. The European Commission has granted the BMA's regulatory regime for reinsurance, group solvency calculation and group supervision full equivalence to Solvency II. Under the EBS framework, ALRe's assets are recorded at market value and its insurance reserves are determined by reference to nine prescribed scenarios, with the scenario resulting in the highest reserve balance required to be selected. This ratio is not comparable to prior year end BSCR ratios given the change in the solvency regime; however, consistent with the previous regime the minimum required capital ratio to be considered solvent by the BMA is 100%.

³ Rankings as of June 30, 2017 per LIMRA.

Third Quarter Results

Net income for the third quarter was $274 million, an increase of $148 million, or 117%, over the prior year. The increase was driven by a $114 million increase in operating income, net of tax, a favorable change in FIA derivatives primarily due to strong equity market performance and higher stock compensation expense in the prior year.

Our annual process of unlocking assumptions resulted in a decrease in pre-tax income of $33 million, compared to a decrease of $171 million in 2016.

Operating income, net of tax, for the third quarter was $231 million, an increase of $114 million, or 97%, over the prior year. Operating income, net of tax, excluding notable items was $254 million, an increase of $85 million, or 50%, which was driven by higher investment income primarily due to invested asset growth.

Our annual process of unlocking assumptions resulted in an increase in other liability costs of $20 million compared to an increase of $158 million in 2016.

In the third quarter of 2017, we generated deposits of $2.8 billion, a decrease of 2% compared to the prior year.

Retail Sales: For the third quarter, we generated new deposits of $1.3 billion, down from the prior year which benefited from two newly launched products. During the quarter, we expanded our distribution with the addition of new partners, in both the bank and broker-dealer channels, as we have seen the impact of our ratings upgrade and expanded wholesale team.

Flow Reinsurance: Flow reinsurance deposits were $190 million in the third quarter, down from the prior year. Effective August 1, 2017 we began reinsuring traditional fixed and fixed indexed annuities for Lincoln Financial. We continue to pursue new reinsurance partners and develop new products to diversify our portfolio.

Institutional: For the third quarter, we generated $1.3 billion of new deposits within our institutional channel, comprised of funding agreements. Additionally, subsequent to quarter-end, we entered into our second and third pension risk transfer agreements totaling approximately $1.0 billion of obligations, covering approximately 30,000 retirees.

Selected Results

¹Book value per share, ex AOCI is calculated as the ending AHL shareholders' equity excluding AOCI divided by the operating diluted Class A common shares outstanding.

²Represents common shares outstanding for all classes eligible to participate in dividends for each period presented. Utilized for the book value per share calculation.

³Operating diluted Class A common shares outstanding assumes conversion or settlement of all outstanding items that are able to be converted to or settled in Class A common shares, including the impacts of Class B common shares outstanding on a one-for-one basis, the impacts of all Class M common shares outstanding net of the conversion price and any other stock-based awards outstanding, but excluding any awards for which the exercise or conversion price exceeds the market value of Class A common shares on the applicable measurement date. Our Class B common shares are economically equivalent to Class A common shares and can be converted to Class A common shares on a 1-for-1 basis at any time. Our Class M common shares are in the legal form of shares but economically function as options as they are convertible into Class A shares after vesting and settlement of the conversion price. We believe this non-GAAP measure is an appropriate economic representation of our share counts for use in an economic view of book value metrics.

¹ Basic earnings per share, including basic weighted average shares outstanding includes all classes eligible to participate in dividends for each period presented.  

² Diluted earnings per share on a GAAP basis for Class A common shares, including diluted Class A weighted average shares outstanding, includes the dilutive impacts, if any, of Class B common shares, Class M common shares and any other stock-based awards. Such dilutive securities totaled 0.4 million weighted average shares in the quarter. Diluted earnings per share on a GAAP basis for Class A common shares are based on allocated net income of $167 million (61% of net income) and $34 million (27% of net income) for the three months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, respectively. The increase in shares is mainly driven by Class B shares converting to Class A shares through the various offerings in 2016 and 2017.

³ Weighted average shares outstanding - operating diluted Class A assumes conversion or settlement of all outstanding items that are able to be converted to or settled in Class A common shares, including the impacts of Class B common shares on a one-for-one basis, the impacts of all Class M common shares net of the conversion price and any other stock-based awards but excluding any awards for which the exercise or conversion price exceeds the market value of Class A common shares on the applicable measurement date. Our Class B common shares are economically equivalent to Class A common shares and can be converted to Class A common shares on a 1-for-1 basis at any time. Our Class M common shares are in the legal form of shares but economically function as options as they are convertible into Class A shares after vesting and settlement of the conversion price. In calculating Class A diluted earnings per share on a GAAP basis, we are required to apply sequencing rules to determine the dilutive impacts, if any, of our Class B common shares, Class M common shares and any other stock-based awards. To the extent our Class B common shares, Class M common shares and/or any other stock-based awards are not dilutive they are excluded. We believe this non-GAAP measure is an appropriate economic representation of our share counts for use in an economic view of diluted operating earnings per share.

Q3 Results

In the third quarter, our Retirement Services operating income, net of tax, was $244 million, an increase of $102 million over the prior year. Operating income, net of tax, excluding notable items of unlocking impacts and immaterial out of period actuarial adjustments, was $250 million, an increase of $63 million, or 34%, generating an operating ROE excluding AOCI of 19.0%. The increase was driven by higher fixed and other investment income, partially offset by lower alternative investment income.

Investment income increased due to invested asset growth and higher short-term interest rates increasing floating rate investment income. Our annual process of unlocking assumptions resulted in an increase in other liability costs of $20 million, compared to an increase of $158 million in 2016.

Investment margin on deferred annuities was 2.76%, a decrease of 3 basis points over the prior year. The net investment earned rate was 4.64%, a decrease of 11 basis points over the prior year. Although short-term interest rates increased fixed and other investment returns in the quarter, this was more than offset by lower alternative returns. Alternative returns were lower as the prior year benefited from higher credit fund income due to more favorable credit spread tightening.

Cost of crediting was 1.88%, a favorable decrease of 8 basis points compared to the prior year, as a result of recent rate actions and lower option costs.

Q3 Results

In the third quarter, Corporate and Other operating loss, net of tax, was $13 million, as compared to a loss of $25 million in the prior year. In the third quarter 2017, our German operation had an operating loss of $17 million, primarily driven by policyholder dividends related to a timing difference in recognition of participating income under U.S. GAAP compared to German GAAP. Operating income, net of tax excluding this notable item was $4 million, an increase over prior year which had alternative investment losses reflecting a decline in the market value of public equity positions in one of our funds.

This press release and the third quarter 2017 financial supplement will be posted to the Company’s website at ir.athene.com.

Athene will conduct a conference call on Tuesday, November 7, 2017 at 9:00 a.m. ET to discuss third quarter 2017 results. Additionally, the company will post an earnings presentation deck on the ir.athene.com website prior to market open on November 7, 2017.

Investor Relations Contact:             Media Contact:

phart@athene.com                    klynn@athene.com

Further information about our companies can be found at www.athene.com.

In addition to our results presented in accordance with GAAP, our results of operations include certain non-GAAP measures commonly used in our industry. Management believes the use of these non-GAAP measures, together with the relevant GAAP measures, provides information that may enhance an investor's understanding of our results of operations and the underlying profitability drivers of our business. The majority of these non-GAAP measures are intended to remove from the results of operations the impact of market volatility (other than with respect to alternative investments) as well as integration, restructuring and certain other expenses which are not part of our underlying profitability drivers or likely to re-occur in the foreseeable future, as such items fluctuate from period-to-period in a manner inconsistent with these drivers. These measures should be considered supplementary to our results in accordance with GAAP and should not be viewed as a substitute for the GAAP measures. See Non-GAAP Measure Reconciliations for the appropriate reconciliations to the GAAP measures.

Investment margin is a key measurement of the financial health of our Retirement Services core deferred annuities. Investment margin on our deferred annuities is generated from the excess of our net investment earned rate over the cost of crediting to our policyholders. Net investment earned rate is a key measure of investment returns and cost of crediting is a key measure of the policyholder benefits on our deferred annuities. Net investment earned rate, cost of crediting and investment margin on deferred annuities are non-GAAP measures we use to evaluate the profitability of our core deferred annuities business. We believe measures like net investment earned rate, cost of crediting and investment margin on deferred annuities are effective in analyzing the trends of our core business operations, profitability and pricing discipline. While we believe net investment earned rate, cost of crediting and investment margin on deferred annuities are meaningful financial metrics and enhance our understanding of the underlying profitability drivers of our business, they should not be used as a substitute for net investment income and interest sensitive contract benefits presented under GAAP.

In managing our business we analyze invested assets, which do not correspond to total investments, including investments in related parties, as disclosed in our consolidated financial statements and notes thereto. Invested assets represent the investments that directly back our policyholder liabilities as well as surplus assets. Invested assets is used in the computation of net investment earned rate, which allows us to analyze the profitability of our investment portfolio. Invested assets includes (a) total investments on the consolidated balance sheets with AFS securities at cost or amortized cost, excluding derivatives, (b) cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash, (c) investments in related parties, (d) accrued investment income, (e) the consolidated VIE assets, liabilities and noncontrolling interest, (f) net investment payables and receivables and (g) policy loans ceded (which offset the direct policy loans in total investments). Invested assets also excludes assets associated with funds withheld liabilities related to business exited through reinsurance agreements and derivative collateral (offsetting the related cash positions). We include the underlying investments supporting our assumed funds withheld and modco agreements in our invested assets calculation in order to match the assets with the income received. We believe the adjustments for reinsurance provide a view of the assets for which we have economic exposure. Our invested assets are averaged over the number of quarters in the relevant period to compute our net investment earned rate for such period.

Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (unaudited)

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income (unaudited)

The reconciliation of basic weighted average Class A shares to weighted average operating diluted Class A shares is as follows:

The reconciliation of basic Class A shares outstanding to operating diluted Class A outstanding shares is as follows: