AXA S.A. to Sell Some of Its AXA Equitable Stock

AXA's banner on the New York Stock Exchange, on the day it went public (Photo: Allison Bell/TA)

AXA Equitable Holdings Inc. announced Monday that its parent, AXA S.A., will be selling 40 million shares of AXA Equitable common stock.

The offering underwriters will have an option to buy 6 million shares for themselves.

AXA Equitable — publicly traded company based in New York — now has about 521 million shares of common stock outstanding.

AXA S.A. — an insurer based in Paris — owns about 313 million shares, or about 60% of the total.

The AXA Equitable shares are now selling for about $20 each on the New York Stock Exchange, under the stock symbol EQH.

If AXA S.A. succeeds at selling 40 million AXA Equitable shares, that could raise about $800 million. The sale could reduce the number of AXA Equitable shares AXA S.A. holds to 243 million, or 49.5% of the total.

AXA Equitable said it intends to buy about 30 million of the shares itself.

After AXA Equitable buys back those shares, there would be a total of about 491 million AXA Equitable shares of common stock outstanding, according to an offering document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The deal underwriters have an option to buy 6 million additional AXA Equitable shares for themselves.

J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are the lead underwriters.

AXA Equitable descends from Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. AXA S.A. acquired control over Equitable in 1991.

AXA S.A. began the process of converting AXA Equitable back into a stand-alone company through an initial public offering of stock that took place in May 2018. AXA S.A. sold 24.5% of its AXA Equitable shares through that offering but said it intended to sell more of its shares over the next years.

AXA S.A. executives have said they want to focus AXA S.A. more on property-casualty insurance, in parts because of concerns about the effects of new European insurance accounting rules.