Axa chief says merger activity will increase

The chief executive of takeover target AXA Asia Pacific Holdings has predicted an increase in merger and acquisition activity in the financial sector.

Andrew Penn said yesterday the global financial crisis had forced massive change in the world's financial services industries.

"We will most likely see, and indeed are already beginning to see, an increase in global M&A activity including AXA," Penn told the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (Finsia) Asia Financial Services Summit.

AXA APH is at the centre of a takeover tussle, with National Australia Bank's A$13.29 billion bid for the insurance and superannuation giant knocked back by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). National Australia's bid is higher than an earlier A$12.85 billion ($16.4 billion) bid by AMP for AXA APH.

Penn said there was a "significant opportunity for Australia and Australian companies to play a more meaningful role in [Asia]".

"However, it is an opportunity that needs to be grasped, save it passing us by."

Penn said AXA APH's own business in Asia had grown to A$9.4 billion, from A$50 million in 1986.

For the first six months of last year, AXA's revenue in Asia totalled A$790 million. A 57 per cent increase on that would be A$1.24 billion, assuming that June's growth was equivalent to growth seen to May.

- AAP