Thomson Reuters Logo of France's biggest insurer Axa is seen in Paris
- AXA Equitable Holdings' initial public offering priced at $20 a share.
- Wall Street analysts were expecting shares to price between $24 and $27.
- AXA's IPO is expected to be the biggest since Snap.
AXA Equitable Holdings, priced its initial public offering at $20 a share, missing the target range of $24 to $27 that Wall Street analysts were expecting. The insurer raised $2.75 billion, missing its $3.5 billion goal - but the IPO is still expected to be the biggest since Snap raised $3.9 billion in March 2017.
Spinning off from French life insurance company AXA SA, AXA Equitable Holdings will encompass its parent company's US operations. This includes the US Life & Savings unit and a 64% stake in AllianceBernstein Holding, a money manager.
Investors may be showing doubt ahead of the company's debut onto the public market because of the low interest rate environment. Life insurance companies tend to suffer under low interest rates which can restrict the returns made on investments. The life insurance industry has underperformed the S&P 500 index this year, losing more than 10% as a whole. The S&P 500 gained nearly 1%.
AXA shares will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "EQH."