Insurer steps up expansion with acquisition of Australian bank's operations in Hong Kong, Indonesia
AXA Asia Pacific, the insurance arm of global financial giant AXA Group, has agreed to buy the Asian insurance units of National Australia Bank (NAB) for A$575 million ($3.29 billion) to accelerate its growth in the region.
The deal, signed yesterday, was the second acquisition in Hong Kong's life insurance market in less than a year, with more to come, some insurers said.
In July last year, Sun Life Financial bought CMG Asia for $3.5 billion.
AXA Asia Life regional chief executive Mark Pearson said the acquisition of the units, MLC Hong Kong and MLC Indonesia, was consistent with the group's Asian growth strategy.
'This is an excellent opportunity for AXA to further strengthen its position in Hong Kong and build further scale in Indonesia,' Mr Pearson said.