Corebridge Financial and Equitable Holdings announced they have entered into a definitive agreement to combine in an all-stock merger valued at approximately $22 billion, using closing stock prices from the most recent trading day as the basis for that valuation.
Once completed, the transaction will form a company focused on retirement, life, wealth and asset management services. The combined business will serve in excess of 12 million customers and manage and administer roughly $1.5 trillion in assets, operating across Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Asset Management, Wealth Management, Life Insurance and Institutional Markets.
Deal mechanics and ownership
Under the terms of the agreement, each outstanding share of Corebridge common stock will be exchanged for 1.0000 share of the new parent company’s common stock. Each outstanding share of Equitable common stock will be exchanged for 1.55516 shares of the new parent company’s common stock. Following the close, Corebridge shareholders are expected to own approximately 51% of the combined company while Equitable shareholders will own approximately 49%.
The merged company will operate under the Equitable name and brand and will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol EQH. The combined company will be headquartered in Houston, Texas.
Financial expectations and targets
Company management has provided a set of financial targets for the combined entity. The new company expects to deliver more than $5 billion of operating earnings and to generate over $4 billion of cash. Leadership says the transaction will be immediately accretive to earnings per share and to cash generation, with accretion increasing to over 10% by the end of 2028.
Management also projects more than $500 million of run-rate expense synergies by the end of 2028, with those savings to come primarily from consolidation of functions, information technology systems and vendor partners. The combined company expects an adjusted return on equity of more than 15% by the end of 2027.
As part of the commercial alignment, the companies plan to shift more than $100 billion of Corebridge’s general and separate account assets to AllianceBernstein, which is described as Equitable’s majority-owned subsidiary.
Capital and balance sheet metrics
At year-end 2025, Corebridge reported a Life Fleet RBC Ratio of approximately 435% and holding company cash of $2.3 billion. Equitable reported a Combined NAIC RBC Ratio of approximately 475% and holding company cash of $1.1 billion. The combined company will have over $30 billion of shareholders’ equity excluding accumulated other comprehensive income and will report a leverage ratio of 26%.
Governance and leadership
Leadership roles for the combined company have been outlined in the agreement. Marc Costantini, president and chief executive officer of Corebridge, will serve as president and chief executive officer of the combined company. Robin Raju, chief financial officer of Equitable, will serve as chief financial officer. Mark Pearson, president and chief executive officer of Equitable, will serve as executive chair.
The board of directors of the combined company will consist of 14 members, with seven directors designated by Corebridge and seven designated by Equitable. Alan Colberg, chair of the Corebridge Board, will serve as lead independent director.
Timeline and approvals
The companies currently expect the transaction to close by year-end 2026. The closing remains subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals and approval by the shareholders of both Corebridge and Equitable.
The agreement presents a comprehensive blueprint for integrating two large financial-services franchises into a single publicly traded company. The firms have outlined operational, financial and governance frameworks in advance, and management has provided specific numerical targets for earnings, cash generation, synergies and returns.
Details on the mechanics of the stock exchange ratios, the governance composition and the capital metrics are included in the agreement, and management has identified AllianceBernstein as the majority-owned affiliate that will receive transferred Corebridge assets totaling over $100 billion.
Note: This article reports the terms and expectations that the companies have disclosed in their definitive agreement.