<div id="readability-page-1"><div>Fitch Ratings-New York-11 November 2025:This is a correction of a release published Nov. 10, 2025. It clarifies that the Rating Outlooks are Stable rather than Negative as stated in the ratings list of the original release. Fitch Ratings has downgraded Brighthouse Financial, Inc.'s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'BBB' from 'BBB+'. Fitch has also downgraded the Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) ratings of Brighthouse Life Insurance Company (BLIC) and New England Life Insurance Company to 'A-' from 'A'. The Outlooks are Stable. A full list of rating actions is below.The downgrade follows the announcement that Aquarian Capital LLC will acquire Brighthouse in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $4.1 billion. Aquarian's credit quality is weaker than Brighthouse's, and the acquisition will increase its size and complexity. However, Brighthouse will operate as a standalone entity within the Aquarian portfolio.The downgrade reflects Brighthouse's high proportion of legacy, market-sensitive liabilities. These include universal life with secondary guarantees and variable annuities (VA) that have produced balance sheet volatility and constrained statutory capital generation.Key Rating DriversNew Parent: Aquarian's acquisition of Brighthouse is expected to close in 2026 and is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. Aquarian is a diversified holding company with strategic investments in insurance and asset management. Post-acquisition, Brighthouse will be a private company and could benefit over the long-term, though Aquarian's credit quality is weaker than Brighthouse's, driven in part by its niche insurance operations and small scale.The acquisition will increase Aquarian's size and complexity. VAs are new to its balance sheet, and Fitch expects the Brighthouse management team to be retained and operate largely independent of Aquarian's other insurance operations. Fitch also expects Aquarian to manage Brighthouse's investment portfolio and to add incremental illiquidity and complexity to it while increasingly using reinsurance to reduce risk and free up capital.Capital Volatility: Brighthouse's capital has exhibited volatility over the years, and statutory capital generation has been constrained. Fitch expects statutory reserves to be updated in 4Q25 to reflect emerging experience but for Brighthouse's RBC ratio to remain in excess of 400%. Historically, Brighthouse Financial, Inc.'s strong capital levels offset its moderate business profile and elevated legacy liability risks.As of 3Q25, its estimated combined risk-based capital (RBC) ratio of 435%-455% is within its target range of 400%-450% in normal markets. RBC benefitted in the quarter from the company's update to hedge legacy variable annuities and its 'first-generation' registered-indexed linked annuity (RILA), Shield business' separately, resulting in a material decline in required capital. The company updated its GAAP reserve assumptions in 3Q25, leading to variable annuity reserve strengthening, which was more than offset by life insurance reserves released.Brighthouse's financial leverage of 24% aligns with rating expectations, while its 2024 Prism score remained 'Strong', but deteriorated YoY due to a drop in total adjusted capital and new business growth. The company relies significantly on an onshore captive to finance redundant statutory term and universal life reserves, elevating the total financing and commitments ratio to very high levels. Financing for the acquisition will not involve incremental debt at Brighthouse, and Fitch expects the existing debt and preferred shares to remain outstanding immediately following the closing of the merger.Moderate Business Profile: Brighthouse has a significant operating scale but faces above-average exposure to market-sensitive VA and run-off universal life with secondary guarantee businesses, which add earnings variability and volatility. This exposure has created challenges over the years, including RBC ratio temporarily declining below the company's target range last year, prior to being restored through reinsurance. Due to its negative unassigned surplus position, Brighthouse currently has no ordinary dividend capacity.Brighthouse's business profile ranks low within the moderate range, driving its company profile and highly influencing its rating. Since separating from MetLife Inc. in 2017, Brighthouse more than doubled its annual annuity sales, resumed life insurance sales and established an institutional spread margin business. The largest proportion of sales comes from Shield Level annuities, the company's flagship RILA, in which it has a top-5 market position.Increasing Risky Asset Ratio: Fitch expects the portfolio to shift towards less-liquid assets over the rating horizon, with potential further increases in the ratio absent growth in statutory capital. As of YE 2024, Brighthouse's risky asset ratio of 143% was 50 percentage points higher than the industry average. The company's investment allocations largely remained stable YoY across asset classes with a modest decline in quality. The ratio has doubled over the past five years, mainly due to declining statutory capital. The company is underweight in commercial mortgage loans at 10% of invested assets but modestly overweight in office properties relative to the industry at 23% of CMLs, down from 46% at YE 2016.RATING SENSITIVITIES Factors that Could, Individually or Collectively, Lead to Negative Rating Action/Downgrade-- A decline in the Prism score to below 'Strong' or an RBC ratio below 375%;-- An increase in financial leverage to above 30%;-- Material adverse development with legacy liabilities that affects Fitch's assessment of capital adequacy.-- An increase in the risky assets ratio to above 160%.Factors that Could, Individually or Collectively, Lead to Positive Rating Action/UpgradeAn upgrade is unlikely in the near term, but could occur longer-term due to:--Business profile improvement, which could be driven by decreased exposure to variable annuities with GMxB riders and universal life with secondary guarantees;--Sustained organic statutory capital generation leading to stability and a Prism score maintained at the high end of the 'Strong' category, RBC ratio above 400% and financial leverage below 25%;--A decline in the risky assets ratio to below 125%.REFERENCES FOR SUBSTANTIALLY MATERIAL SOURCE CITED AS KEY DRIVER OF RATING The principal sources of information used in the analysis are described in the Applicable Criteria. ESG ConsiderationsFitch does not provide ESG relevance scores for Brighthouse Financial Short Term Funding, LLC,Brighthouse Financial Short Term Funding, LLC,Brighthouse Financial, Inc.,Brighthouse Financial, Inc.,Brighthouse Holdings, LLC,Brighthouse Holdings, LLC,Brighthouse Life Insurance Company,Brighthouse Life Insurance Company,Brighthouse Life Insurance Company of NY,Brighthouse Life Insurance Company of NY,New England Life Insurance Company.In cases where Fitch does not provide ESG relevance scores in connection with the credit rating of a transaction, programme, instrument or issuer, Fitch will disclose any ESG factor that is a key rating driver in the key rating drivers section of the relevant rating action commentary. For more information on Fitch's ESG Relevance Scores, visit https://www.fitchratings.com/topics/esg/productsBrighthouse Financial Short Term Funding, LLC----senior secured; Short Term Rating; Downgrade; F1Brighthouse Financial, Inc.; Long Term Issuer Default Rating; Downgrade; BBB; Rating Outlook Stable----senior unsecured; Long Term Rating; Downgrade; BBB-----preferred; Long Term Rating; Downgrade; BB----junior subordinated; Long Term Rating; Downgrade; BBBrighthouse Holdings, LLC; Long Term Issuer Default Rating; Downgrade; BBB; Rating Outlook Stable----preferred; Long Term Rating; Downgrade; BB+New England Life Insurance Company; Long Term Insurer Financial Strength; Downgrade; A-; Rating Outlook StableBrighthouse Life Insurance Company; Long Term Insurer Financial Strength; Downgrade; A-; Rating Outlook Stable; Short Term Insurer Financial Strength; Downgrade; F1Contacts:Primary Rating AnalystJamie Tucker, CFA, CPASenior Director+1 212 612 7856jamie.tucker@fitchratings.comFitch Ratings, Inc.Hearst Tower 300 W. 57th StreetNew York, NY 10019Secondary Rating AnalystJack Rosen,Director+1 212 612 7881jack.rosen@fitchratings.comCommittee ChairpersonDoriana Gamboa,Managing Director+1 212 908 0865doriana.gamboa@fitchratings.comMEDIA RELATIONS: Cristina Bermudez, New York, Tel: +1 212 612 7892, Email: cristina.bermudez@thefitchgroup.comAdditional information is available on www.fitchratings.comApplicable ModelNumbers in parentheses accompanying applicable model(s) contain hyperlinks to criteria providing description of model(s).Prism U.S. Life Insurance Capital Model, v1.3.5-2024 (1)ADDITIONAL DISCLOSURESDodd-Frank Rating Information Disclosure FormSolicitation StatusAdditional Disclosures For Unsolicited Credit RatingsEndorsement StatusEndorsement PolicyALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTPS://WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, THE FOLLOWING HTTPS://WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM/RATING-DEFINITIONS-DOCUMENT DETAILS FITCH'S RATING DEFINITIONS FOR EACH RATING SCALE AND RATING CATEGORIES, INCLUDING DEFINITIONS RELATING TO DEFAULT. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA, AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE, AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE CODE OF CONDUCT SECTION OF THIS SITE. DIRECTORS AND SHAREHOLDERS RELEVANT INTERESTS ARE AVAILABLE AT HTTPS://WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM/SITE/REGULATORY. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE OR ANCILLARY SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF PERMISSIBLE SERVICE(S) FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN ESMA- OR FCA-REGISTERED FITCH RATINGS COMPANY (OR BRANCH OF SUCH A COMPANY) OR ANCILLARY SERVICE(S) CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH RATINGS WEBSITE.Copyright © 2022 by Fitch Ratings, Inc., Fitch Ratings Ltd. and its subsidiaries. 33 Whitehall Street, NY, NY 10004. Telephone: 1-800-753-4824, (212) 908-0500. Fax: (212) 480-4435. Reproduction or retransmission in whole or in part is prohibited except by permission. All rights reserved. In issuing and maintaining its ratings and in making other reports (including forecast information), Fitch relies on factual information it receives from issuers and underwriters and from other sources Fitch believes to be credible. Fitch conducts a reasonable investigation of the factual information relied upon by it in accordance with its ratings methodology, and obtains reasonable verification of that information from independent sources, to the extent such sources are available for a given security or in a given jurisdiction. The manner of Fitch’s factual investigation and the scope of the third-party verification it obtains will vary depending on the nature of the rated security and its issuer, the requirements and practices in the jurisdiction in which the rated security is offered and sold and/or the issuer is located, the availability and nature of relevant public information, access to the management of the issuer and its advisers, the availability of pre-existing third-party verifications such as audit reports, agreed-upon procedures letters, appraisals, actuarial reports, engineering reports, legal opinions and other reports provided by third parties, the availability of independent and competent third- party verification sources with respect to the particular security or in the particular jurisdiction of the issuer, and a variety of other factors. Users of Fitch’s ratings and reports should understand that neither an enhanced factual investigation nor any third-party verification can ensure that all of the information Fitch relies on in connection with a rating or a report will be accurate and complete. Ultimately, the issuer and its advisers are responsible for the accuracy of the information they provide to Fitch and to the market in offering documents and other reports. In issuing its ratings and its reports, Fitch must rely on the work of experts, including independent auditors with respect to financial statements and attorneys with respect to legal and tax matters. Further, ratings and forecasts of financial and other information are inherently forward-looking and embody assumptions and predictions about future events that by their nature cannot be verified as facts. As a result, despite any verification of current facts, ratings and forecasts can be affected by future events or conditions that were not anticipated at the time a rating or forecast was issued or affirmed.The information in this report is provided “as is” without any representation or warranty of any kind, and Fitch does not represent or warrant that the report or any of its contents will meet any of the requirements of a recipient of the report. A Fitch rating is an opinion as to the creditworthiness of a security. This opinion and reports made by Fitch are based on established criteria and methodologies that Fitch is continuously evaluating and updating. Therefore, ratings and reports are the collective work product of Fitch and no individual, or group of individuals, is solely responsible for a rating or a report. The rating does not address the risk of loss due to risks other than credit risk, unless such risk is specifically mentioned. Fitch is not engaged in the offer or sale of any security. All Fitch reports have shared authorship. Individuals identified in a Fitch report were involved in, but are not solely responsible for, the opinions stated therein. The individuals are named for contact purposes only. A report providing a Fitch rating is neither a prospectus nor a substitute for the information assembled, verified and presented to investors by the issuer and its agents in connection with the sale of the securities. Ratings may be changed or withdrawn at any time for any reason in the sole discretion of Fitch. Fitch does not provide investment advice of any sort. Ratings are not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. Ratings do not comment on the adequacy of market price, the suitability of any security for a particular investor, or the tax-exempt nature or taxability of payments made in respect to any security. Fitch receives fees from issuers, insurers, guarantors, other obligors, and underwriters for rating securities. Such fees generally vary from US$1,000 to US$750,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent) per issue. In certain cases, Fitch will rate all or a number of issues issued by a particular issuer, or insured or guaranteed by a particular insurer or guarantor, for a single annual fee. Such fees are expected to vary from US$10,000 to US$1,500,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent). The assignment, publication, or dissemination of a rating by Fitch shall not constitute a consent by Fitch to use its name as an expert in connection with any registration statement filed under the United States securities laws, the Financial Services and Markets Act of 2000 of the United Kingdom, or the securities laws of any particular jurisdiction. Due to the relative efficiency of electronic publishing and distribution, Fitch research may be available to electronic subscribers up to three days earlier than to print subscribers.For Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and South Korea only: Fitch Australia Pty Ltd holds an Australian financial services license (AFS license no. 337123) which authorizes it to provide credit ratings to wholesale clients only. Credit ratings information published by Fitch is not intended to be used by persons who are retail clients within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001Fitch Ratings, Inc. is registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (the “NRSRO”). While certain of the NRSRO’s credit rating subsidiaries are listed on Item 3 of Form NRSRO and as such are authorized to issue credit ratings on behalf of the NRSRO (see https://www.fitchratings.com/site/regulatory), other credit rating subsidiaries are not listed on Form NRSRO (the “non-NRSROs”) and therefore credit ratings issued by those subsidiaries are not issued on behalf of the NRSRO. However, non-NRSRO personnel may participate in determining credit ratings issued by or on behalf of the NRSRO.</div></div>

Fitch Ratings has downgraded Brighthouse Financial, Inc.'s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating to 'BBB' from 'BBB+' and the Insurer Financial Strength ratings of its subsidiaries to 'A-' from 'A'. The Outlooks are Stable. This follows Aquarian Capital LLC's planned acquisition of Brighthouse for approximately $4.1 billion, which is expected to close in 2026. The downgrade reflects Brighthouse's high proportion of legacy, market-sensitive liabilities and capital volatility. Despite challenges, Brighthouse's management is expected to remain independent post-acquisition.

Correction: Fitch Downgrades Brighthouse's Ratings; Outlook Stable