EQH Equitable Holdings Inc

   By Pietro Lombardi 
 

AXA SA (CS.FR) expects to raise roughly $1.4 billion from the sale of shares in its U.S. subsidiary AXA Equitable Holdings Inc. (EQH).

The French insurance giant has been reducing its stake in the U.S. company since last year's IPO, using the money it raised to partially finance its $15 billion acquisition of insurer XL Group. The latest sale will take AXA's stake in AXA Equitable to below 50%, it said late Wednesday.

About $800 million should come from the sale of 40 million shares in AXA Equitable at $20.50 per share, which should be completed by March 25. The French insurer has granted the option for underwriters to acquire a further 6 million shares, whose value isn't included in the $1.4 billion estimate.

A further $600 million should come from the sale of 30 million shares in AXA Equitable back to the U.S. company.

AXA's stake in the company should decline to about 49.5% from about 60.1% after the transactions, and the remaining holdings will be deconsolidated and accounted for under the equity method.

The French company's half-year results should take a hit of roughly 700 million euros ($795.8 million) from the deal, stemming from the difference between the offering price and the book value of AXA Equitable.

"This does not reflect management's expectations on the future evolution of EQH's share price or of the price at which potential future transactions might take place," AXA said.

The deal should also lead to a decline in AXA's debt gearing.

Write to Pietro Lombardi at pietro.lombardi@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 21, 2019 06:06 ET (10:06 GMT)

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