According to the Sunday Times, the £42bn (€59.8bn, $63.5bn) business has brought in Barclays bankers and Fenchurch Advisory Partners to help it sell off parts of the Axa Wealth operation and other blocks of business too.
Sources told the paper the firm had grown tired of the regulatory environment in the UK, and that Axa Wealth International’s offshore bond business was also a ‘potential candidate’ in the frame.
An Axa spokesperson said: “We don’t comment on market rumours or speculation.”
Axa launched a five-year strategic review, called ‘Ambition Axa’, around four years ago, and said its latest business update that €1.8bn in cost savings have already been made.
More than five years ago, Axa Sun Life, was sold to Clive Cowdery’s Resolution, the insurance vehicle that become Friends Life.
Friends Life, which includes Friends Provident International, was in turn sold to Aviva after shareholders backed the deal on 26 March this year.
Friends Provident International has since announced that it would exit from certain markets and focus on Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, and the ‘permitted jurisdictions’ of South Africa and Qatar.
Earlier this year, International Adviser reported that Axa might be looking to sell off all of its UK businesses.
Further consolidation in the international life industry was predicted during the CEO main platform roundtable at International Adviser’s 10th anniversary FundLinks Forum in September.
