ALLIANCEBERNSTEIN HOLDING LP

U.S. Equities

U.S. Equity markets registered strong gains in the final quarter of 2023, buoyed by slowing inflation data and expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve (the "Fed") has finished its rate hiking cycle and will move towards cuts in 2024. Market breadth improved in the fourth quarter, with share price appreciation moving beyond mega-cap technology stocks. Both the cap-weighted S&P 500 and the equal-weighted S&P 500 returned positive 12% in the fourth quarter (including dividends). Previously lagging segments of the market rebounded, with Small-Caps (market capitalization ranges between $250 million to $2 billion) and Mid-Caps (market capitalization ranges between $2 billion to $10 billion) outperforming Large-Caps (market capitalization above $10 billion) with the Russell 2000 index posting a positive 14% return in the fourth quarter and Value stocks outperforming Growth stocks in the fourth quarter.

1 Percentage change figures are calculated using assets under management rounded to the nearest million, while financial statement amounts are rounded to the nearest hundred thousand.

Despite the broadening rally in late 2023, annual index returns were largely concentrated within the "Magnificent-7" companies: a term coined for Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, NVIDIA and Tesla which were perceived as the main beneficiaries of the Artificial Intelligence revolution. These seven companies boast the largest market capitalization values in the S&P 500 and account for more than a quarter of the index, disproportionally driving the capitalization-weighted S&P 500's 2023 total return of positive 26% versus positive 14% for the equal-weighted version.

Global and Non-U.S. Equities

Moderating inflation data and peaking interest rates drove nearly unilateral gains beyond U.S. equity markets (MSCI World Index was positive 11.4% in the fourth quarter). Within the Eurozone, annual inflation fell to 2.4% (as of November 2023) from 10.1% a year ago, sending the MSCI European Economic and Monetary Union index 7.8% higher in the fourth quarter. In the U.K., gains were led by Small-Cap and Mid-Cap indices while Large-Cap lagged on account of a strengthening GBP (sterling). Japan's TOPIX trading index posted a positive 2.0% total return despite a volatile quarter and overall Emerging Market equities were strong in the fourth quarter, albeit lagging Developed Markets. All markets in the MSCI Asia (ex Japan) index ended the quarter positively, apart from China, where lackluster growth continues to be a drag on asset prices.

Global Bonds

Fixed income markets experienced their strongest quarterly performance in over 20 years, as indicated by the Bloomberg Global Aggregate indices. This was primarily driven by a perceived shift in monetary policy direction, with expectations of rate cuts replacing the previous "higher-for-longer" narrative. As a result, government bond yields fell significantly, and credit markets outperformed government bonds. The Fed maintained its rates throughout the quarter, but a more dovish tone in December accelerated the market rally. The revised dot plot, which plots the Federal Open Market Committee's ("FOMC") projections for the federal funds rate, now anticipates three rate cuts in 2024, up from the previous expectation of two. The FOMC appears more comfortable with the progress made in bringing inflation back towards the target, as indicated by positive news on the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index, which is the Fed's most closely watched measure.

Relationship with EQH and its Subsidiaries

EQH(our parent company) and its subsidiaries are our largest client. EQH is collaborating with AB in order to improve the risk-adjusted yield for the General Accounts of EQH's insurance subsidiaries by investing additional assets at AB, including the utilization of AB's higher-fee, longer-duration alternative offerings. In mid-2021, Equitable Financial Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of EQH ("Equitable Financial"), agreed to provide an initial $10 billion in permanent capital to build out AB's private illiquid offerings, including private alternatives and private placements. Deployment of this capital commitment is approximately 90% completed and is expected to continue over the next year. In addition, during the second quarter of 2023, EQH committed to provide an additional $10 billion in permanent capital, which will begin following the completion of the initial $10 billion commitment. We expect this anticipated capital from Equitable Financial will continue to accelerate both organic and inorganic growth in our private alternatives business, allowing us to continue to deliver for our clients, employees, unitholders and other stakeholders. For example, included in the initial $10 billion commitment by EQH is $750 million in capital to be deployed through AB CarVal.

Permanent capital means investment capital of indefinite duration, for which commitments may be withdrawn under certain conditions. Such conditions primarily include potential regulatory restrictions, lacking sufficient liquidity to fund the capital commitments to AB and AB's inability to identify attractive investment opportunities which align with the investment strategy. Although EQH’s insurance subsidiaries have indicated their intention over time to provide this investment capital to AB, they have no binding commitment to do so. While the withdrawal of their commitment could potentially slow down our introduction of certain products, the impact to our overall operations would not be material.

Relocation Strategy

As previously announced, we have established our corporate headquarters in Nashville, TN, at 501 Commerce Street. Our Nashville headquarters houses Finance, IT, Operations, Legal, Compliance, Internal Audit, Human Capital, and Sales and Marketing, and at year-end 2023 we had 1,048 employees in Nashville. We will continue to maintain a principal location in New York City, which houses our Portfolio Management, Sell-Side Research and Trading, and New York-based Private Wealth Management businesses.

We believe relocating our corporate headquarters to Nashville affords us the opportunity to provide an improved quality of life alternative for our employees and enables us to attract and recruit new talented employees to a highly desirable location while improving the long-term cost structure of the firm.

During the transition period, which began in 2018 and is expected to continue through 2024, we currently estimate that we will incur transition costs of between $145 million to $155 million. These costs include employee relocation, severance, recruitment, and overlapping compensation and occupancy costs. Over this same period, we expect to realize total expense savings of between $205 million to $215 million. However, we did incur some transition costs before we began to realize expense savings. For the period beginning in 2018 and ending in the fourth quarter of 2023, we incurred $140 million of cumulative transition costs compared to $175 million of cumulative savings. We incurred $20 million of transition costs for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, compared to $43 million of expense savings, resulting in an overall net savings of $23 million for the period. In 2023, our net income per unit ("EPU") increased $0.08 as a result of our relocation strategy, which compares to the $0.07 EPU increase that occurred in 2022. We also expect to achieve EPU accretion in each future year. Beginning in 2025, once the transition period has been completed, we estimate ongoing annual expense savings of approximately $75 million, which will result from a combination of occupancy and compensation-related savings. Our estimates for both the transition costs and the corresponding expense savings are based on our current assumptions of employee relocation costs, severance, and overlapping compensation and occupancy costs. In addition, our estimates for both the timing of when we incur transition costs and realize the related expense savings are based on our current relocation implementation plan and the timing for execution of each phase. The actual total charges we eventually record, the related expense savings we realize, and the timing of EPU impact may differ from our current estimates as we implement each phase of our headquarters relocation.

During October 2018, we signed a lease, which commenced in the fourth quarter of 2020, relating to 218,976 square feet of space at our new Nashville headquarters. Our estimated total base rent obligation (excluding taxes, operating expenses and utilities) over the 15-year initial lease term is $134 million.

Although we have presented many of our transition costs and annual expense savings with numerical specificity, and we believe these targets to be reasonable as of the date of this report, the uncertainties surrounding the assumptions we discuss above create a significant risk that these targets may not be achieved. Accordingly, the expenses we actually incur and the savings we actually realize may differ from our targets, particularly if actual events adversely differ from one or more of our key assumptions. The transition costs and expense savings, together with their underlying assumptions, are Forward-Looking Statements and can be affected by any of the factors discussed in“Risk Factors” and“Cautions Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in this 2023 10-K. We strongly caution investors not to place undue reliance on any of these assumptions or our cost and expense targets. Except as may be required by applicable securities laws, we are not under any obligation, and we expressly disclaim any obligation, to update or alter any assumptions, estimates, financial goals, targets, projections or other related statements that we may make.