American Equity Investment Life Holding Company Initial Public Offering Priced At $9.00 Per Share WEST DES MOINES, Iowa, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Equity Investment Life Holding Company (American Equity) today announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 18.7 million shares of common stock at $9.00 per share. The shares are expected to commence trading tomorrow on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "AEL." American Equity has granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 2,805,000 shares to cover over-allotments, if any. American Equity plans to contribute substantially all of the proceeds from the offering directly or indirectly to the capital and surplus of its life insurance subsidiaries. Merrill Lynch & Co. has acted as the book-running manager for the offering with Advest, Inc., Raymond James and Sanders Morris Harris Inc. acting as co- managing underwriters. A registration statement relating to these securities was filed with and declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there by any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. This offering is made solely by means of a prospectus which may be obtained from Merrill Lynch & Co., 4 World Financial Center, New York, New York 10080; Advest, Inc., 392 Boston Neck Road, Suffield, Connecticut 06078; Raymond James, 550 West Washington, Suite 1650, Chicago, IL 60661; or Sanders Morris Harris Inc., 600 Travis St., Suite 3100, Houston, Texas 77002. American Equity Investment Life Holding Company, through its wholly-owned operating subsidiaries, is a full service underwriter of a broad line of annuity and insurance products, with a primary emphasis on the sale of fixed rate and index annuities. The company's headquarters are located at 5000 Westown Parkway, Suite 440, West Des Moines, Iowa, 50266. The mailing address of the company is: P.O. Box 71216, Des Moines, Iowa, 50325. DATASOURCE: American Equity Investment Life Holding Company CONTACT: Jamie G. Buelt for American Equity Investment Life Holding Company, +1-515-248-1808, or cell, +1-515-249-1857

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