Australian regulators rejected National Australia Bank’s (NAB) US$12.2 billion bid for financial firm AXA Asia Pacific on competition concerns yesterday, in a move welcomed by rival suitor AMP.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said NAB’s suggestion of divesting key technology, after the takeover was initially rejected in April, had failed to ease competition fears.
“The proposed undertakings offered by the parties do not provide sufficient certainty that the ACCC’s competition concerns will be addressed,” ACCC deputy chairman Peter Kell said.
AXA Asia Pacific’s French owner AXA SA and NAB agreed in March on the buyout, under which AXA SA would take its subsidiary’s Asian arm, while NAB would control its Australian and New Zealand businesses.
The ACCC blocked the move, but said it would reassess the situation if AXA Asia Pacific sold its specialized investment platform, North, to IOOF Holdings Ltd.
However, the commission yesterday said a “majority” of industry members it consulted remained concerned that the sell-off of North would “not provide for an effective competitive constraint.”
The deal would have been the largest ever takeover in Australia’s financial services sector and would have made NAB one of Australia and New Zealand’s leading wealth management groups.
Rival bidder AMP called the ACCC decision a “great outcome for competition” and said it still regarded AXA, for which it offered US$11.5 billion, as a lucrative investment.
“AMP has always said AXA remains strategically attractive, but at the right price,” an AMP spokeswoman said.
However, she said renewing AMP’s push for AXA was “a decision for another day” and there was no urgency on the matter. An exclusivity agreement preventing AXA from soliciting other bids expired at midnight yesterday and the ACCC has already green-lighted AMP’s offer.
NAB, Australia’s fourth-largest bank, said it was “considering the implications of this decision” and would provide an update as soon as possible, a response echoed in a statement by AXA Asia Pacific.
Investors flocked to NAB after the news, driving its shares up 3.72 percent to A$24.84 (US$22.78). AXA shares closed 6.62 percent lower at A$5.08 and AMP was flat at A$5.04, in a broadly higher market. Analysts have said NAB’s offer overvalued AXA.
Even without North, analysts have said NAB and AXA Asia Pacific’s combined platforms account for more than 25 percent of the market.
North is a wealth management technology linking financial planners and ordinary or retirement investors with more than 130 products, with initial capital and contributions guaranteed against market volatility.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work