NAB boss takes team to Paris; report
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK (NAB) looks to have moved quickly to open up talks with France-based AXA over the purchase of Australia-based Axa Asia-Pacific, if a report in today’s Sydney Morning Herald is accurate. On Saturday, AXA’s exclusivity agreement with Australian financial services group AMP expired.
In a terse statement released today, AMP stated that AXA had ceased to be an associate of AMP, and that AMP would continue to consider its position in relation to AXA.
Meanwhile, NAB chief executive Cameron Clyne was reported to have flown with a team of executives to Paris to talk directly to AXA chief executive Henri de Castries. At the same time, AXA sent a team to Melbourne to begin due diligence on the NAB proposal.
The NAB AUD13.29bn ($11.53bn) all-cash proposal, which is backed by Axa Asia-Pacific, differs little from the AMP proposal in the way the takeover would be structured. NAB would buy all of Axa Asia-Pacific in association with AXA, and would then sell back the Asian businesses to AXA, leaving NAB owning the Australian and New Zealand units, valued by the NAB bid at about AUD4.6bn.
The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission is scheduled to rule this week on the AMP proposal, with its judgement on the NAB proposal scheduled for release on March 18.
