ATHENE HOLDING LTD.
Fitch Ratings has assigned a 'BBB+' Long-Term rating to
The existing ratings of ATH and its affiliates are unaffected by today's rating action.
Key Rating Drivers
The notes have been assigned a rating one notch below Athene's Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR), which reflects standard notching based on Fitch's insurance rating criteria.
The issuance is not expected to cause ATH to breach any of its established rating sensitivities. Fitch expects that financial leverage will remain below industry averages and that fixed-charge coverage will remain in-line with Fitch's rating expectations when incorporating the impact of the new issuance.
ATH plans to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes.
RATING SENSITIVITIES
Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to positive rating action/upgrade:
Further positive rating actions are unlikely over the near term absent a material change in Fitch's view of ATH's company profile.
Further rating sensitivities that could lead to a positive rating action over the long term include:
Maintaining a PRISM model score in the upper half of the 'Very Strong' category
Strong investment performance as evidenced by relatively minimal credit impairments and ability of the company to absorb price volatility stemming from its illiquid holdings;
GAAP based fixed charge coverage maintained above 10x;
GAAP based operating ROE above 12%.
Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to negative rating action/downgrade:
Prism score below 'Very Strong';
Large acquisitions that are either outside of ATH's historical risk preference and expertise or add materially to the company's operating or financial leverage;
Deterioration in asset performance as evidenced by increased impairments or increased price volatility leading to realized losses in a stressed market environment;
Deterioration in ATH's operating performance, resulting in a ROE below 9%;
GAAP based fixed-charge coverage below 8.0x.
Best/Worst Case Rating Scenario
International scale credit ratings of Financial Institutions and Covered Bond issuers have a best-case rating upgrade scenario (defined as the 99th percentile of rating transitions, measured in a positive direction) of three notches over a three-year rating horizon; and a worst-case rating downgrade scenario (defined as the 99th percentile of rating transitions, measured in a negative direction) of four notches over three years. The complete span of best- and worst-case scenario credit ratings for all rating categories ranges from '
Date of Relevant Committee
REFERENCES FOR SUBSTANTIALLY MATERIAL SOURCE CITED AS KEY DRIVER OF RATING
The principal sources of information used in the analysis are described in the Applicable Criteria.
ESG Considerations
Unless otherwise disclosed in this section, the highest level of ESG credit relevance is a score of '3'. This means ESG issues are credit-neutral or have only a minimal credit impact on the entity, either due to their nature or the way in which they are being managed by the entity. For more information on Fitch's ESG Relevance Scores, visit www.fitchratings.com/esg.
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