Executives from Equitable (NYSE:EQH) and Corebridge Financial outlined plans for a “transformational” all-stock merger that would combine the two insurers under the Equitable brand, with an expected closing at the end of 2026. Management said the transaction is designed to create a diversified financial services company spanning retirement, life insurance, asset management, and wealth management, supported by a larger balance sheet and targeted cost savings.
Deal structure and leadership
Under the terms described on the call, the companies will be combined into a newly established holding company in an all-stock merger. On a pro forma basis, Corebridge shareholders are expected to own 51% of the new company and Equitable shareholders 49%. Corebridge is expected to be the accounting acquirer, and debt of both companies would be “structurally pari passu” after closing, according to executives.
Strategic rationale and scale
Pearson said the merger brings together “three outstanding franchises”—Corebridge, Equitable, and AllianceBernstein—creating a company with more than 12 million customers and $1.5 trillion of assets under management and administration. Executives emphasized what they called limited overlap and complementary strengths across product lines and distribution, arguing the combination could lead to faster growth, higher profitability, and more resilient results across market cycles.
Costantini highlighted four strategic pillars for the combined company:
- Using scale and identified expense synergies to reduce unit costs and lower cost of capital.
- Leveraging a broad, multi-channel distribution platform across retail, wholesale, and worksite channels.
- Capturing economics across the “full value chain” of product manufacturing, distribution, and asset management.
- Operating under “strong financial principles,” including prioritizing value over volume and focusing on diversified cash flow.
Distribution, product fit, and wealth management growth
Management repeatedly pointed to distribution as a key competitive advantage. Costantini said the combined company would have leadership positions across the retail, wholesale, and worksite distribution channels, including roughly 5,000 financial advisors in affiliate wealth management businesses. In retail, the companies said their advisor channel sold $12 billion of proprietary life and annuity products in 2025, and executives described upside from adding complementary offerings, including Corebridge indexed annuities and indexed universal life products.
In retirement, management said Equitable is the No. 1 registered index-linked annuity (RILA) provider, while Corebridge is the No. 3 fixed indexed annuity writer, which executives characterized as limited overlap. They said the combined company would hold a top-five position across retail annuity product categories and would have $250 billion of AUM/A in the retirement platform. Executives also discussed Group Retirement leadership in tax-exempt 403(b) and 457 markets, with $160 billion of combined AUMA and plans to use scale to support digitization and improve flows.
Wealth management was positioned as a key growth opportunity. Management described three platforms totaling about $300 billion of assets under advisement (AUA): Equitable Advisors, Corebridge’s advisor business in the 403(b) market, and Bernstein Private Wealth. Executives said Equitable Advisors had 4,600 advisors and $122 billion of AUA, with 13% organic growth in 2025, while Bernstein Private Wealth was described as having $156 billion of assets and mid-single-digit net new asset growth. Costantini said the company expects wealth management segment earnings to grow at a double-digit annual rate and cited potential synergies including greater penetration with tax-exempt customers and capturing more rollovers and out-of-plan assets.
AllianceBernstein, investment portfolio, and synergy targets
Executives also emphasized the role of AllianceBernstein (AB), noting the combined company’s 68% ownership stake in the publicly traded partnership. Costantini said AB pays out all of its earnings and provides more than $600 million of non-regulated cash flows annually to the holding company, adding that the ownership stake had a market value of about $8 billion at the time of the call. Management said it expects to move at least $100 billion of Corebridge general and separate account assets to AB over time, which would bring AB’s total AUM close to $1 trillion. Costantini also discussed the potential to commercialize Corebridge’s internal asset origination capabilities, including real estate and commercial mortgage loans, using AB’s global distribution.
Raju outlined financial expectations for the combined company, including “over $4 billion of cash flow annually,” with approximately 75% of annual cash flows expected to come from insurance entities and 25% from asset and wealth management. He said both companies have consistently reported RBC ratios above 400%, and provided a pro forma year-end 2025 RBC ratio estimate of about 440% and a projected leverage ratio at close of 26%.
On the investment portfolio, Raju said the combined general account would exceed $350 billion, with 96% of fixed maturities rated investment grade and an average credit rating of A-. He also detailed a pro forma private credit portfolio of $63 billion, or about 17% of the total portfolio, with more than 92% rated investment grade. Direct lending was described as 6% of the private assets portfolio and about 1% of the total general account.
On synergies, management projected at least $500 million of annual pre-tax expense synergies on a run-rate basis by the end of 2028, with about 30% earned in during the first year after closing and 75% recognized within 24 months. Raju said the cost to achieve would be about 1.5 times the run-rate synergies and would be reported “below the line.” Executives said the deal is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings per share and cash generation, with 10%+ accretion projected by the end of 2028 and an adjusted return on equity of 15%+.
In Q&A, executives said the new company’s formal headquarters is expected to be in Houston, Texas. They also said they expect to continue Corebridge’s partnership with Blackstone, even as they pursue asset transfers to AllianceBernstein.
Looking ahead, management said the combined company plans to host an investor day in the first half of 2027 to provide additional detail on its strategy and updated financial targets.
About Equitable (NYSE:EQH)
Equitable Holdings, Inc (NYSE: EQH) is a leading provider of life insurance, annuities and retirement plan services in the United States. Through its insurance subsidiary, AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, the firm offers a broad range of permanent and term life insurance products designed to help individuals and families manage risk and build wealth. In addition, Equitable provides fixed, variable and indexed annuity solutions to support income planning in retirement, as well as a suite of group retirement and pension plan services for employers and plan sponsors.
The company also maintains an asset management arm that delivers investment strategies across equities, fixed income and alternative asset classes for both retail and institutional clients.
