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Transcript Summary

Equitable Holdings reported a strong Q1 2026, highlighted by the announcement of its merger with Corebridge. Adjusted operating EPS rose 25% year-over-year to $1.68, driven by organic growth and favorable mortality. Total AUM ended at $1.1 trillion. The Corebridge merger is expected to deliver at least $500 million in expense synergies and be immediately accretive, adding $100 billion in assets to AllianceBernstein. Segment performance was solid, with Retirement spreads stabilizing and Wealth Management earnings up 22%. Despite some outflows at AB, the institutional pipeline is at a record $28 billion. Management lowered its full-year guidance for alternative investment returns but expects to exceed its 12-15% EPS growth target for 2026. Capital return remains a priority, with a 60-70% payout ratio target and a commitment to resume share buybacks as soon as the merger proxy is filed. The combined company is projected to generate over $4 billion in annual cash flow, supported by a strong RBC ratio of 475%. Management emphasizes that the merger creates a diversified 'flywheel' across insurance, wealth, and asset management.

5-year share-count history (top 10 holders by peak, incl. exited) + price

Revenue Segments

Filing Risk Scores

Equitable Holdings, Inc.: Administrative Shell Review and Capital Structure Baseline

Full Earnings Call Transcript — Q1 • 2026-05-05

Operator: Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the Equitable Holdings Q1 2026 Earnings and Conferencing Call. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand the conference over to Eric Bass Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Investor Relations. Eric, please go ahead.
Erik Bass: Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to Equitable Holdings First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. Materials for today's call can be found on our website at ir.equitableholdings.com. Before we begin, I would like to note that some of the information we present today is forward-looking and subject to certain SEC rules and regulations regarding disclosure. Our results may differ materially from those expressed in or indicated by such forward-looking statements. Please refer to the safe harbor language on Slide 2 of our presentation for additional information. . Joining me on today's call are Mark Pearson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Equitable Holdings; Robin Raju, our Chief Financial Officer; Nick Lane, President of Equitable Financial; Onur Erzan, President of AllianceBernstein; and Tom Simioni, Chief Financial Officer of AllianceBernstein. During this call, we will be discussing certain financial measures that are not based on generally accepted accounting principles, also known as non-GAAP measures. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures and related definitions may be found on the Investor Relations portion of our website in our earnings release, slide presentation and financial supplement. We will also refer to the pending transaction with Core Bridge. Any statements about the transaction made during this call are not an offer of securities. Registration statement containing a prospectus will be filed with the SEC in connection with the transaction. I will now turn the call over to Mark.
Mark Pearson: Good morning, and thank you for joining today's call. The first quarter marked an extraordinary moment in Equitable's 166-year history, with the announcement of our planned merger with Corebridge, which will create a world-class platform to help our customers plan, save for and achieve secure financial futures. This morning, I will spend some time discussing why we believe that by leveraging the complementary strengths of Equitable and core bridge, the combined company will deliver tremendous value for both our customers and shareholders. On Slide 4, I will start by providing a few highlights from our first quarter results. We reported non-GAAP operating earnings of $1.62 per share or $1.68 per share after adjusting for notable items. This increased 25% versus the first quarter of 2025, driven by healthy organic growth momentum, improved mortality experience and a lower share count. We continue to expect earnings per share growth to exceed the high end of our 12% to 15% target range in 2026. Assets under management ended the quarter at $1.1 trillion, up 9% year-over-year. While equity markets declined modestly in the first quarter, they have since recovered, and higher average AUM versus 2025 levels should continue to provide a near-term tailwind for earnings. Our balance sheet remains a core strength with a combined NAIC RBC ratio of approximately 475% and $1.2 billion of holding company liquidity. Our credit portfolio continues to perform well. And as Robert will walk through, we are positioned to handle even a severe stress scenario. We remain committed to being a consistent return of capital and executing the share buybacks assumed in our 2026 financial plan. Turning to organic growth. We see good momentum in retirement sales and flows even as the level of competition has increased. Total sales increased 10% year-over-year, driven by strength in Riles and we have $1.3 billion of net inflows. Wealth Management delivered another strong growth quarter with $2 billion of advisory net inflows. Over the last 12 months, the business produced a 13% organic growth rate. During the quarter, we also closed on the acquisition of Stifel Independent Advisors, which is a good example of how we can use bolt-on M&A to help scale our wealth management business. Asset management earnings grew 11% year-over-year, driven by higher AUM and increased ownership. AB had net outflows of $7.1 billion in the first quarter, driven primarily by active equities and taxable fixed income. Private wealth and private markets remain bright spots as both had positive flows in the period. Total private markets AUM increased 13% year-over-year to $85 billion. and AB remains on track to meet or exceed its target of $90 billion to $100 billion in AUM by the end of 2027. While near-term flows may remain volatile, AB has a record institutional pipeline of nearly $28 billion, which includes several large insurance mandates that will fund over the next few quarters. AB will also be a meaningful beneficiary of the Core bridge merger as we expect it to receive at least $100 billion of incremental assets over the next few years. As I will walk through over the next few slides, the motivating factor behind the Corebridge merger is our belief that it will accelerate our growth strategy and position us to be a long-term winner across all the markets we compete in. The companies have complementary strengths with limited overlap across products. We have already begun the integration planning process and have high confidence in achieving at least $500 million of expense synergies and -- as a result, the merger will be immediately accretive to earnings per share, and we expect to deliver 10% plus accretion on a run rate basis by the end of 2028. And with potential upside from revenue synergies. Moving to Slide 5. Before talking about the merger, I want to highlight 5 attributes we believe are critical for long-term success and which we use when evaluating any strategic option, including this merger. Underlying everything, of course, is providing an exceptional customer experience. Customers that are easy to do business with and offer the products and advice needed to transform complex financial risks into simple, reliable outcomes will attract clients and distributors. Developing deep brand loyalty will help create predictable and growing value for shareholders. Second, in intermediated markets like financial services, having strong distribution is critical as clients want local access to expert, personalized advice. Privileged shelf space, particularly in channels with high barriers to entry, provides a meaningful competitive advantage in acquiring new customers while also managing the cost of funds. Third is the imperative of competitive scale, size matters. Being able to invest in technology and automation will improve efficiency and result in lower unit costs and a lower expense ratio. This provides capacity to reinvest in growth while simultaneously delivering higher profit margins. Fourth, we know that shareholders value consistent growth in earnings and cash flow across different market cycles and having diversified sources of earnings and capital enhances the ability to deliver this. Disciplined risk management is also critical to give clients and investors confidence in the resilience of the balance sheet, especially during periods of macro uncertainty and market stress. Finally, we see significant value in owning insurance, asset management and wealth management businesses to participate in the full value chain and benefit from the significant demographic tailwinds driving growth across each of these markets. It also means that shareholders capture the high multiple fee earnings generated by distributing and managing the assets associated with insurance and retirement solutions that are manufactured. By attracting the very best talent and aligning to these 5 convictions, we ensure that when our clients win, our shareholders win. Turning to Slide 6. I will highlight why the merger with Corebridge aligns to these convictions and will drive growth and shareholder value. The merger brings together 3 outstanding franchises to create a diversified financial services company with over 12 million customers, $1.5 trillion in AUM and leading positions across retirement, life insurance, asset management and wealth management. Equitable and Corebridge complement each other well with different strengths and limited overlap. We intend to capitalize on our scale advantages to reduce unit costs and achieve a lower cost of capital. We expect to have a top quartile expense ratio, and we'll be able to combine our resources when making growth investments. This will make us more profitable, drive more cash generation and increase our return on capital. We will have formidable distribution capabilities and leading positions across the retail, institutional and worksite channels. The depth and breadth of our distribution should enable us to expand our offerings while achieving a lower average cost of funds, resulting in more profitable new business. We will also have flexibility to allocate capital where we see the best risk-adjusted returns and customer demand. In addition, our integrated business model allows us to capture the full value chain by acting as a product manufacturer, distributor and asset manager. This differentiates us from our competitors, most of whom only participate in 1 or 2 of these verticals. While the merger will shift our mix more towards retirement, it also helps scale AB and wealth management, enhancing the value of these high-multiple businesses. We remain focused on maximizing the flywheel benefits inherent in our model. Finally, the new Equitable will have a robust balance sheet and is expected to generate over $4 billion of cash flow annually. We are aligned and having strong financial principles that govern how we operate starting with economic management of the balance sheet and a focus on cash generation. Ultimately, we want to produce consistent results and cash flow across market cycles, so that we can provide attractive returns to shareholders while also investing for growth. I will conclude on Slide 7 by providing some clear examples of how the merger will help accelerate growth across all our businesses. Starting with Retirement and Institutional, the combined firm will have approximately $540 billion of AUM and unmatched breadth across products and distribution. We knew that Equitable would need to become more diversified over time in order to fully participate in the growing U.S. retirement market and combining with Corebridge makes us a top 3 provider of fixed and indexed annuities and expands our institutional capabilities, notably in pension risk transfer. It also adds a strong life business that provides earnings and capital diversification and should benefit from selling through equitable advisers. In addition, the merger doubles our third-party distribution network to approximately 900 firms expanding our ability to reach new customers. The combined firm will originate $70 billion to $80 billion of liabilities annually, highlighting the size and scale of our platform. We will have a more balanced business mix that provides liquidity benefits and positions us well to generate consistent growth across market cycles while deploying capital where we can earn the most attractive returns. Moving to Asset Management. AB will also benefit from the merger in multiple ways. We expect AB to add at least $100 billion of Corebridge general and separate account assets over the next couple of years, resulting in total AUM of nearly $1 trillion. AB will also benefit from the combined firms increased liability generation, which should drive higher ongoing net inflows. We also see an opportunity to commercialize some of Corebridge's internal asset origination capabilities, particularly for real estate and commercial mortgage loans by leveraging AB's global distribution. Over time, we expect to find additional sources of incremental revenues and net flows, including the potential to develop new commercial partnerships. Lastly, the addition of Corebridge Advisors accelerates the path to scaling our wealth management business and adds approximately $20 billion of AUA. The merger will expand our proprietary product offering to include fixed and indexed annuities and indexed universal life, which will be a win for advisers, particularly our emerging sales force. We will have a more attractive platform and more financial resources, which should enhance our ability to recruit and develop new and experienced financial advisers. Overall, the key message I want to leave you with is that having increased scale would provide competitive advantages that translate into stronger and more consistent growth and enhances our profitability. I will now turn the call over to Robin to highlight the financial benefits from the merger and discuss our first quarter results in more detail.
Robin Raju: Thanks, Mark. I want to echo my excitement about the merger and the ways in which it will accelerate our growth strategy and deliver attractive financial outcomes for our shareholders. On Slide 8, we highlight some of the key financial benefits. First, the combined company will have a robust balance sheet with significant capital. As of year-end 2025, pro forma GAAP book value exceeded $30 billion and the company has had over $25 billion of statutory capital. The pro forma leverage ratio is approximately 26%, which provides financial flexibility. . Second, we will have a more diversified business mix with equal contribution from fee and spread-based earnings. This should help us generate more consistent earnings in different market environments. Third, we project at least 10% accretion to EPS and cash generation on a run rate basis by year-end 2028, driven by expense, capital and tax synergies. We also expect to have a 15% plus return on equity. These projections do not include any benefit from the anticipated revenue synergies. Finally, we forecast over $5 billion of annual earnings power and over $4 billion of cash flows to the holding company, which will make us the most profitable company in the sector based on U.S. earnings. Turning to Slide 9. I will provide some more detail on first quarter results. On a consolidated basis, non-GAAP operating earnings were $472 million, or $1.62 per share, and we reported net income of $621 million or $2.14 per share. Notable items in the quarter included $32 million of below plan alternatives and a $13 million benefit from the purchase of tax credits. Adjusting for these items, non-GAAP operating earnings per share was $1.68, up 25% year-over-year. This is consistent with our earnings per share growth guidance of above 12% to 15% for 2026. The 25% increase in earnings per share was driven by a 9% year-over-year increase in total AUM AUA, lower mortality claims, the benefit of our increased ownership stake in AllianceBernstein, and a lower share count, which reflects the incremental buyback executed following the RGA transaction. In the first quarter of 2026, our alt portfolio, which is 2% of our general account produced an annualized return of 3.5%, with results pressured by lower CLO equity returns. Given weaker market conditions in the first quarter, we currently project our portfolio to have a return of 2% to 3% in the second quarter. While it's premature to predict what will happen in the second half of 2026, based on the lower returns for the first half of the year, we now expect the full year return to be below our prior 8% to 9% guidance. Adjusted book value per share ex AOCI with ABM market value was $34.70, we view this as a more meaningful number than reported book value per share, which significantly understates the fair value of our AB stake. On this basis, our adjusted debt-to-capital ratio was 24.5%, down 40 basis points sequentially. On Slide 10, I'll provide some more details on segment level earnings drivers. In Retirement, first quarter earnings, excluding notable items, were $394 million. Net interest margin or NIM, increased 3% sequentially as lower alternative investment income was offset by growth in general account assets. Excluding alternatives, our NIM spread improved by 5 basis points sequentially, helped by a 4 basis point benefit from a modest recovery in MDA. This reverses the downward trend in spreads we experienced over the past year and supports our view that spreads are beginning to stabilize. On a sequential basis, the growth in NIM was partially offset by lower fee-based revenues as market declines pressured average separate account AUM. Turning to Asset Management. AB reported earnings of $140 million, up 11% year-over-year as a result of higher base fees and our increased ownership percentage. While base fees benefited from a 7% year-over-year increase in AUM, this was partially offset by lower fee rate due to a shift in asset mix. As expected, performance fees were relatively modest in this quarter, but we raised our full year forecast from $80 million to $100 million to $95 million to $115 million. Moving to Wealth Management. We experienced strong year-over-year growth in advisory fees and transaction revenues, driving a 22% increase in earnings. As a reminder, fourth quarter 2025 results benefited from favorable onetime items. And this quarter, we had seasonally higher expenses and a couple of million of costs related with the Stifel acquisition. We still expect double-digit earnings growth in 2026. Finally, Corporate & Other reported a loss of $98 million in the quarter after adjusting for notable items, which is consistent with our 2026 guidance. Mortality was slightly favorable in the quarter and improved versus previous periods. On Slide 11, I'll highlight Equitable's strong balance sheet and cash flows, which enable us to be a consistent returner of capital to shareholders. We know there has been a lot of focus on credit risk. So we've updated our investment portfolio stress test to reflect our holdings as of year-end 2025. This assumes a hypothetical severe credit stress scenario, at least as bad as the global financial crisis and a decline of 40% in equity markets. We estimate slightly less than a 50-point decline in RBC ratio, which from a starting point of 475% still leaves us comfortably above our 400% target. As a result, we are well positioned to handle a potential downturn in credit markets. That being said, today, we do not see any signs of weakness in our portfolio. In the appendix, we provided updated disclosures on our private credit portfolio, which represents 18% of our general account and is 95% investment-grade assets that match well against our liabilities. Let me now turn to cash. We ended the first quarter with $1.2 billion of cash at the holding company above our $500 million target, and we remain on track to achieve our target of 2026 cash generation of $1.8 billion. During the first quarter, we returned $223 million to shareholders including $147 million of share repurchases. We were blacked out from buying back shares for the second half of the quarter due to the merger with Corebridge, which depressed our payout ratio for the period. We remain committed to delivering our 60% to 70% payout ratio target for 2026 and recognize that share buybacks look extremely compelling at the current valuation. We plan to be in the market purchasing shares during the open windows between now and the closing of the transaction. On Slide 12, we show a time line with key dates related to the merger and a specific time period of when we will be able to repurchase stock. Both Equitable and Corebridge trade at a significant discount relative to where we believe they should be valued making buybacks meaningfully accretive to shareholders. As a result, you can expect that we will be active in the market during the windows that are available to us. We expect to file the initial merger proxy statement today after market close, and we can repurchase shares from that point until we mail the final proxy. There is not a set date for that mailing, but we do not expect it to occur until at least early June. We would then be able to repurchase shares again after the shareholder vote. If any repurchases from our 2026 capital plan are not completed prior to the merger close. We plan to execute them as part of an ASR shortly after the closing. As a reminder, the exchange ratio for the merger is fixed and will not be affected by any share repurchases executed by either company. I will now turn the call back over to Mark for some closing comments. Mark?
Mark Pearson: Thanks, Robert. Equitable delivered solid first quarter results, and we remain confident in achieving our EPS growth and cash generation guidance for 2026, even with the volatile market backdrop. Looking forward, I am incredibly excited about the powerhouse franchise we are creating through the merger with Corebridge. As we have talked about this morning, the combined company will have the scale, distribution strength and product with to deliver differentiated growth and returns. I am confident that this merger positions us to win with customers and deliver superior value to shareholders over time. We will now open the line to take your questions. .
Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Wes Carmichael with Wells Fargo.
Wesley Carmichael: Good morning. Thank you. My first question was on the Retirement segment. And you had a pretty good earnings result in the quarter. And previously, I think you talked about spread compression abating in the second half of 2026, at least on a percentage basis. So do you still think that's the case, given the mix of the book here? And maybe you could just talk a little bit about what you're seeing on the cost of fund side from a competitive dynamic.
Robin Raju: Thank you for your question. We were happy to see spread stabilized here in the first quarter. If you look quarter-over-quarter, spread income, NIM was up $11 million quarter-over-quarter. If you exclude all to is up even more and excluding some of the MBA benefit, it was up about 1 basis point net. So -- if you look at it, it's about 1.69 or 169 basis points. And I think that's the level you can probably expect at this point, and you can expect spread income to grow as the general account, excluding embedded derivatives growth. . I mean 2 primary factors that you see, yes, with the abatement of some of the higher-margin imports that's run off. That's a smaller part of the business mix, but also the discipline in the new business underwriting that we're seeing despite what you hear on the competition, Rail sales were up 14% year-over-year and the pricing discipline has been maintained and the margins have been good. So the combination of that with the runoff of the in-force should lead to stabilization of spreads going forward.
Wesley Carmichael: Got it. And then maybe just a more broad question. But on the Equitable Corebridge merger, I know you reiterated the EPS guidance with materials. Just wondering if you've done a bit more work, I guess, in earnest on progress towards the merger. Have any of your expectations change in terms of the financial impact? And maybe anywhere you seeing more or less opportunity relative to, I guess, a little bit more than a month ago when the deal was announced.
Mark Pearson: Thanks, Wes, it's Mark Pearson. Yes, I think the things we'd say is the integration planning process is well under way now with the top or so leaders from each of the organizations. We really are confirming through that the complementarity of the 2 businesses. We are stronger together in terms of our product breadth, in terms of our distribution in terms of the scale. So that is confirming everything we've told you in terms of the synergy opportunities and look forward. We are also pretty excited on the revenue synergy side, but we're going to save telling you that until first half of 2027 when we've done the work and we can start to quantify it for you. But confirming the expense synergies now and then also starting to work on the revenue side as well.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Suneet Kamath with Jefferies.
Suneet Kamath: I just wanted to start on the buybacks with the window opening, I guess, later tonight. How should we think about the pace of buybacks here over the next month? And is there any sort of restrictions or coordination that's required with Corebridge? Or are you guys just kind of operating at your own sort of speed?
Robin Raju: Sure. Thanks, Suneet. Yes, look, as we laid out in the presentation, we're excited to say we're going to be back in the market with share buybacks -- we expect to file the proxy this evening, and that enables us to open up the window again until the final mailing that will happen in June. Within that time period, expect us to be active in the market. The returns on a share buyback are very attractive at this point in time. So that's 1 of the reasons why we wanted to be back in and both us and Corebridge will coordinate together to make sure that share buybacks maintain accretion for shareholders throughout the period. . And then as I laid out in the presentation, after the shareholder vote that will open up the next window for share buybacks. And then anything that's not completed by the closing will be completed as an ASR if needed. But shareholders should expect the same level of capital return from both companies that they would have otherwise received and we're happy to say we're going to be back in the market because buybacks are accretive given that both stocks will cheap right now.
Suneet Kamath: Okay. That's helpful. And then, I guess, on the $70 billion to $80 billion of originated liabilities that you guys are sort of talking about, is there a practical limit in terms of how much assets AB can originate in order to back those liabilities?
Robin Raju: No, we're fortunate. With $70 billion to $80 billion of liabilities, we're going to have 4 asset managers that we're going to leverage. So obviously, Alliance Bernstein, our in-house. Also, we get to benefit from some of the capabilities that Corebridge brings to the merger, so Blackstone BlackRock and their internal capabilities as well. $70 million to $80 billion provides lots of assets to put to work and allows us to be disciplined on the general account and getting the best risk-adjusted returns on those assets across the board. So I would expect everybody to benefit. Obviously, AB will benefit from the broader revenue synergies as well. That doesn't take into account the future growth. That's the $100 billion in separate account and general account assets that will move over to AB as a starting point. And then there'll be upside from there with the future growth of the $70 billion to $80 billion, benefiting AB and our other asset managers as well.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Ryan Krueger with KBW.
Ryan Krueger: In the merger call, you talked about 2% to 4% synergies from capital and taxes that were part of the 10% plus overall synergies. I wanted to, I guess, ask if -- is that a true best estimate? Or did you embed some conservatism there? And you could possibly, as you do more work, see some upside to the capital benefits of the merger.
Robin Raju: Thanks, Ryan. So some of the benefits that we spoke about the merger, I think it's just important to repeat. So it's going to be day 1 accretive and 10% plus going forward after everything at a run rate basis. In addition to diversification of both businesses together means we'll have more stability in earnings and cash flows, which I think will lead to a lower cost of capital and a better profile for us going forward. . To your question on the 10% plus synergies, we referenced 6% to 8% coming from expense synergies there, we said we at least expect to at least get $500 million. There should be upside to that and then the remainder will be from tax and capital, which I would say is our best estimate at this point in time. We'll always do more work going forward. You can see both companies Equitable and Corebridge, very active in terms of capital management since the IPO. So you could expect that to continue going forward. Most importantly though, as Mark mentioned earlier, these numbers do not include the benefit of revenue synergies. I think that's what's going to differentiate this transaction on a go-forward basis, is the more assets and revenues going to AllianceBernstein, leveraging Corebridges, index IUL and fixed annuity products with Equitable advisers and leveraging our VUL product with their third-party distribution if we can be successful in capturing more revenue with the 2 companies together, this will be a stronger franchise that deserves a higher multiple going forward.
Ryan Krueger: And then just 1 question on the PGAAP impacts. I mean I understand that it's -- it's contingent on where interest rates are, and there's probably a lot of work to be done on this. But maybe just directionally, can you give any sense of like if the merger closed now would this be more -- would this be more likely to be a positive or negative potential impact to your GAAP earnings?
Robin Raju: I think it's too early to say at this point in time. As we put together the PGAAP, we'll finalize that prior to close, and we'll certainly give you that guidance. I think there will be moving parts into PGAAP1 on the balance sheet basis. Obviously, the book value of the combined companies will be the figure, and that will just be reflective of wherever the market cap of Equitable is at that standpoint. On the income side, there will be moving parts between VOBA DAC and then fair value of some of the assets. And we'll do that work. And as we do that work, we'll disclose it as we get closer to the close of the transaction. .
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Tom Gallagher with Evercore ISI.
Thomas Gallagher: One question about the quarter and then 1 about the merger. On the quarter, the MVA gains that you had in retirement, Robin, can you comment on absolute dollars of earnings that, that represented this quarter? And would you expect there to be any sustainability there? Was there something unusual about why they were higher? .
Robin Raju: Sure. Thanks. Yes, we were -- again, a key point for me is that spreads stabilized ex all to next the MVA, so about a 1 basis point improvement the MVA was about approximately $10 million in the quarter. We don't expect benefits on a go-forward basis. That's something we don't include in our forecast or budgeting. As you've seen, that's been positive or negative through different periods over time. But excluding the MVA and excluding the impact of alts, spreads improved by 1 basis point quarter-over-quarter.
Thomas Gallagher: Got you. So $10 million was the earnings contribution?
Robin Raju: Yes, approximately. .
Thomas Gallagher: Got you. And the -- my question on the merger, I listened closely to what you've been saying about the revenue synergies. I haven't heard much of an emphasis on your institutional spread business, which I know is small for you, it's bigger for Corebridge. But is that an opportunity? Because when I look at you and Corebridge on a stand-alone basis, you're probably half of the size or maybe 30% or 40% of the size of that business compared to like the Mets and the cruise of the world. So I'm just wondering, is that a business that we should expect you to really scale up.
Robin Raju: Sure. I think for corporate and Equitable, the FAB end market has been attractive, it's generated good returns for us. It's obviously spread dependent. So depending on where our spreads trade at different time periods that allows us to go in and out. And then obviously, with the balance sheet being much bigger, it gives us more capacity to lean in, in that market given that spreads are there and pricing is there. So it's certainly an opportunity for us with the larger balance sheet going forward. .
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Joel Hurwitz with Dowling & Partners.
Joel Hurwitz: Robin, first, can you just unpack what you guys saw from a mortality perspective in the quarter. It looked pretty good with the reported benefit ratio at 83.1%.
Robin Raju: Yes, it was nice to have a nice quarter on mortality this quarter. Our benefit ratio is 83%. That's the lowest it's been in any quarter over the last year, which is good. Overall, we saw our lower claims and less high-face amount claims as well, specifically which benefited us this quarter. And so going forward, we think with the guidance that we've given to the market captures appropriately what we'd expect to see in mortality and we look forward to speaking more about good mortality and focusing on the growth in the other businesses as well going forward. .
Joel Hurwitz: Got it. And then in retirement, it looks like you're starting to utilize flow reinsurance for some of your spread business. Can you just talk about what products that's on, how much I guess, you plan to do and the economics for Equitable?
Robin Raju: Sure. Yes. We did -- in the fourth quarter, we started a bit to do some flow reinsurance on our Rila product. Flow reinsurance is a tool that we think is helpful for us when making products accretive going forward. So it's an important tool in the toolkit. We could look at for reinsurance and other products as well and even post merger, corporate does some flow reinsurance as well. So as long as it's accretive for us versus not doing it, it's something that we'll look at selectively in different products. As you know, it's important to have a good counterparty, which we have and also we try to make sure AV continues to manage a portion of the assets for us going forward. We also have Bermuda as a tool in our toolkit as well. We'll look at that for flow reinsurance for selected products, for our internal products and also potentially for third-party opportunities going forward as well. So Flow reinsurance is something that we'll always look at across our businesses.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Alex Scott with Barclays.
Taylor Scott: First 1 I have is on cash flow. I wanted to see if you could talk a bit about just the cash generation of the business and how that will trend through the integration process with just some higher expenses related to the integration itself and probably some sort of hockey stick dynamic. Could you help us think through the way that, that will progress over the next few years?
Robin Raju: Yes. It's probably a little bit too early to give you too many specifics. I'd say both companies obviously have strong cash flow generation across on the equitable side, we continue to feel comfortable with our $1.8 billion guidance that we provided this year and to $2 billion for 2027, expect that to be in addition to the investments that we have in growth to help grow our new business franchises across the board. As part of the integration, we will target $500 million plus in expense synergies and expect that will be a 1.5x investment with a very good payback associated with it. That investment is put between cash and noncash and the timing of that, we'll provide further updates as we get closer to the close of the transaction and the integration planning is more complete.
Taylor Scott: Got it. That's helpful. And then I guess, a related topic is just the excess capital levels that you have right now, particularly at the OpCo level, pretty significant in Corebridge, has a pretty significant menaces Capital as well. How will this transaction change the way you approach it all to the amount of excess capital you hold over time. I mean, I think it's been a while now that you've sort of sat on a pretty high level. And you mentioned the stress test doesn't even take you down that close to your -- your buffer at this point, and that was a pretty extreme stress test. So are you thinking about that differently with the transaction coming on?
Robin Raju: Yes. I think again, going forward, we will have an Investor Day in 2027, where we'll give further guidance on all those metrics. But look, if you take a step back, as we mentioned, the 2 companies are stronger together, the balance sheet are more resilient, they're more diversified across each other. There will be a lower cost of equity across the company, and we'll be well positioned to maintain different cycles in the market, whether that be credit or equity because of the diversification of the businesses. So what does that do? That allows us to leverage excess capital for best use for shareholders. Obviously, share buybacks are very attractive use at this time given the valuations of both companies, but it also allows us to invest in growth. We see very good returns across in the Ryland market and the other markets across both companies. So the more we can invest in growth and grow earnings going forward, which will translate into growth in cash, that will benefit shareholders over the long term. So we'll evaluate all those investment in growth, investment in share buybacks. And for uses of excess capital as the 2 companies come together.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Yaron Kinar with Mizuho.
Yaron Kinar: Just a couple of on capital deployment. So if the windows end up being a bit narrower than expected or in light and ultimately, you have to complete the the buyback through an ASR at the end of the year. Is that 15-plus percent EPS growth target still achievable?
Robin Raju: Yes. I think we're pretty comfortable. If you look where we -- the quarter, we standed at plus 25% on an EPS basis overall. That was with a lower share buyback in the first quarter. If you look at the windows that we have available to us, we can -- we believe we can deploy a lot of capital in the markets to buy back stock at these levels and keeping within our 60% to 70% payout ratio by year-end. So the windows that we have are pretty broad, and we think, give us the availability and the timing needed to deploy our capital plan. And anything that is left will complete it in an ASR and -- so we feel comfortable with the guidance. Remember, the guidance for this year is that we'd be above our 12% to 15%, and we still expect to be above our 12% to 15% as we progress during the year.
Yaron Kinar: Great. And then the second 1 also on capital deployment. So with the Stifel deal done, I think you've expressed interest in continuing to grow that the Wealth business, both organically and inorganically I'm assuming, though, that given where the share price is today, buybacks would be a far more attractive capital deployment than you then -- or avenue than doing a deal in wealth?
Robin Raju: Well, look, I don't know if I'd say it all is deal-specific. Ultimately, we're in a fortunate position where the company can execute on its capital return program for shareholders and investor growth. That's a position of strength that we're in right now. So obviously, we want the Stifel transaction to complete disclosure, the advisers will transition to our platform later this year. We can also look for opportunities in at AllianceBernstein to grow on the asset management side as well. Obviously, where the share price is now, it needs to be accretive for shareholders as you see this deal was as well with the merger that we announced. But ultimately, we're well positioned because we can buy back stock at this price and deploy excess capital to fuel future growth and make us a stronger company going forward.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Will Maertas with Raymond James.
Wilma Jackson Burdis: Given the one-off buybacks will be Mac sometime in June. Maybe if you could just drill down a little bit, is there any limit to the amount equitable could buy given limitations on the percentage of daily trading volume -- and if you could just help us a little bit with the math there. I was just giving it a shot myself but didn't quite get there.
Robin Raju: Yes, look, we obviously have some limitations on average daily trading volume that we have to we have to keep. But we feel as though, and I think corporate would say the same, the windows that we have available to us provide us the flexibility that we need to be in the market to buy back stock. We'll have this, again, we'll have this time period between when we file the proxy tonight versus the final proxy in June to complete a decent amount of share buybacks, and then we'll also have the ability, again, post the shareholder vote. And so we think we can -- we feel pretty comfortable to execute within a reasonable average daily trading volume, our capital plans this year. And so we'd expect to end with the ASR at our 60% to 70% payout ratio and no change in the amount of capital returned to shareholders for this year.
Wilma Jackson Burdis: Okay. If there's any way you can give a little bit more detail just on the restrictions there? Just as a quick follow-up there. And then second question, I think the commentary that you guys have implied on the capital and tax benefits, I calculated it to around $500 million to $1.5 billion of capital that would be freed up by the deal any way to tell us that estimate is somewhere in the ballpark.
Robin Raju: I don't know if there's any other color I gave on the share buybacks at this time. On the capital and tax benefits of the deal, as we mentioned, the EPS accretion will be 6% to 8% from the expenses, hopefully, more than that. We'd expect it to be more given the size of synergy potential that we have between both organizations and then we'll have capital and tax benefits as well that we're not going to give nominal amounts at this time. But again, going forward, as we get into the Investor Day next year, I think you could expect more information on those numbers and also the revenue synergies. Don't forget that's the big part that we get excited about internally of what this brings to AllianceBernstein, what just brings to our wealth management business and what this does for a broader product distribution across both companies that will lead to a higher multiple over time.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Pablo Sanson with JPMorgan.
Pablo Singzon: Just a follow-up on mortality. So 1Q and 40 tends to be the highest mortality quarter for you. So given do you expect corporate loss to be there sequentially? Or was 1Q just too favorable.
Robin Raju: Look, in 1 quarter, we did have some favorability in mortality, as we mentioned, the benefits ratio with 83%. That's lower than it was last quarter, as you could see in the supplement and also lower than it was over the last year. The corporate and other guidance that we gave for the full year was the $350 million to $400 million. We expect to be within that guidance, if you look on a normalized basis this quarter. And also keep in mind, going forward, the benefit of the RGA transaction really limits the volatility related to mortality for us going forward. So I think you're starting to see those benefits come through, and we do expect that to continue.
Pablo Singzon: And then second question is to the implementation of V-22, -- do you see that having any material impact whether from a price or capital standpoint on the fixed annuity block you're getting from Corebridge?
Robin Raju: Yes. I'd ike to let Cobridge add to that on the VM20 side. Look, we've done -- obviously, you can look across both sides have done diligence on each other and whether that be on the asset side or the liability and potential regulation, and we feel comfortable where both companies combined are positioned ahead of any regulation or asset changes. .
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Tracy Benguigui with Wolfe Research.
Tracy Benguigui: Going back to the PGAAP changes you mentioned, some of the moving parts, but I want to touch on AB. It seems like a big thing that folks misunderstand about Equitable is your asset leverage. They're not looking at the right denominator, my personal view of statutory capital matters more. Now with this merger coming up, I understand that your PGAAP,you could mark up AB. So my question is, how should we expect a large goodwill asset and I'm also curious if doing the deal the only way to mechanically recognize AB's equity value? .
Robin Raju: Sure. Thanks, Tracy. I think you're right. I think the way to look at it is not GAAP leverage, but obviously, stat is a bigger piece of and something that a lot of people don't look at. Now on the GAAP side, you're right, it doesn't capture the full market value of AlinsBernstein outside of a transaction like and with PGAAP, I don't think you can. Since we own the linesBernstein, we can't write up the asset as it exists today. So that is 1 of the benefits of the transaction. it will lead to some addition of goodwill, but there are a lot of moving parts related to the PGAAP. So it's too early to give you precise numbers on how to peak up works. But ultimately, both companies, if you look, as I mentioned, the statutory capital is going to be $25 billion of the pro forma company. The GAAP equity is going to be above $30 billion. So we feel very well positioned in terms of the size of both balance sheets and especially well positioned having AB, a wealth management franchise and a broader retirement platform to grow sales.
Tracy Benguigui: Staying with EB, I'm curious if the combined company's plans, are to change the 68% stake.
Robin Raju: No. Currently, right now, we're quite happy with our ownership of AllianceBernstein at 68%, 69%. AB is a key part of the flywheel and expect it to grow. Again, the synergy potential of AB is pretty sign. Maybe I'll ask Onur to talk about the revenue that potential if they align Bernstein, but I think that's a big part of this deal is the benefits of the line Bernstein and getting the $100 billion of seratonin general account assets. .
Onur Erzan: Yes. Thanks, Bob, and I'll also let to catch your breath a bit after multiple questions. Definitely, we are very excited about the $100 billion plus that Mark and Robin mentioned. Obviously, it's going to come from both the general count and the separate account businesses as well as funds and retirement plans. So we have multiple opportunities to do work over the next 7, 8 months before the merger closes. So have a very actionable bankable bottom-up plan and that comes on top of a record pipeline we had before the Corebridge Equitable merger. So it's built on a very sizable pipeline that already exists. So very excited about that and also like the fact that it's a diverse set of asset classes ranging from public to private fixed income, multi-asset equities. So it will allow us to scale multiple platforms or at the same time.
Tracy Benguigui: So would you -- would you want to take that stake up, if you like, the business?
Robin Raju: No change right now in our stake of AllianceBersten. I think we've been clear that after we purchased the increase last year, we went from 62% to approximately 68%, 69%. So -- we have no other plans at this time. We're really focused to combined firms are really focused on execution of this merger. We're pretty excited. We -- as Mark mentioned on the call, we established the integration office. We got our teams together and everybody is focused on planning to execute the expense and revenue synergies and making sure we have the right people in the right seats. So that's our focus at this time. .
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Mark Hughes with Truist.
Mark Hughes: Yes. In the Rail business, sales were pretty strong. I wonder if you could discuss the competitive environment and then maybe touch on the biggest impact, biggest benefit from the merger on distribution?
Nicholas Lane: Great. This is Nick. As you mentioned, overall, we had a strong quarter in sales and volume with Ryals up 14% and $1.3 billion of net flows translating to a 6% trailing 12-month organic growth rate. Look, we're very mindful of competitive trends. As we mentioned last quarter, we saw new entrants in 2025 for back to more rational pricing in the fourth quarter, and we don't see any material change in competitive activity this quarter. . Looking forward, we continue to see strong demand for rails driven by favorable demographics and the macro uncertainty. I'd highlight consumer sentiment is at an all-time low, so people are looking for protected equity stories. And we believe we've got a durable edge to capture it. This is both generating attractive yields through AB, our differentiated distribution with Equitable advisers and our third-party networks. As Robin and Mark alluded to, the merger will even expand our reach in that area. And finally, we have deep relationships and scale. As the pie has grown, we've nearly doubled our sales over the last 3 years, and this was another first quarter in record sales and volume, so just impacting the benefits on distribution, better reach deeper relationships. And as Mark mentioned, we see scale becoming equally increasingly important to generate profitable growth and protect margins. Corebridge will give us both of this immediately. So as such, we think we're in a privileged position to capture the disproportional share of value in the growing retirement market.
Mark Hughes: Understood. Then the $70 billion to $80 billion in liability origination capacity, how much of that is third party versus owned distribution?
Robin Raju: Yes. So, the way to look about it is the $70 million to $80 million is the combined companies post merger today and for Equitable, about 35% of our sales in the retirement business come through Equitable advisers. So -- that's the way to look at it. .
Operator: We have reached the end of the Q&A session. This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.