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Australian sharemarket bottom feeder David Tweed, who has previously made low-ball offers for a number of other companies, is now offering to pay New Zealand investors a premium for their AXA Asia Pacific shares.
AXA said shareholders had received letters from Tweed's Colonial Capital Corporation, offering to purchase their shares for $12.00 per share - the current market price for the shares is A$7.87 ($9.58).
However, in the spirit of previous offers for shares in companies like Tower and AMP, there is a catch: Tweed says payment would be spread over 15 years, at annual instalments of 80c a share.
"We strongly recommend that anyone who receives a letter from Colonial Capital Corporation take financial advice before making a decision in respect of that offer," AXA said.
"We would like to reiterate that this offer is independent of AXA, and AXA in no way endorses the terms of the offer."
In May, Tweed offered New Zealand investors $1.75 for their Tower Australia shares when they were trading on the ASX at A$2.51.