Saturday will be “just another day” for AMP as its exclusivity agreement with AXA SA falls away.
Contradictory media reports about AMP’s position with regards to the AXA Asia Pacific (AXA AP) bid have been doing the rounds, while AXA AP is expected to use good new business and fund flows results to its favour.
An AMP spokesperson said that as they have not made any further announcements, when the exclusivity agreement falls away on Saturday it will be “just another day”.
Yet there have been contradictory reports around AMP’s position regarding the bid. The Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday that AMP is still considering options, while this morning The Australian referred to a private AMP briefing during which chief executive Craig Dunn said that the AXA AP purchase is “not a strategic must do”.
AXA AP released its new business and fund flows results for the 12 months ended December 31, 2009, which showed particularly good performance in Asia.
AXA AP rejected the takeover offer by AMP and AXA SA as it felt it undervalued its businesses. The NAB bid is dependent on a number of conditions, including an agreement by AXA SA to acquire the Asian businesses.
AXA AP chief executive Andrew Penn said most of its businesses performed strongly in 2009, particularly its Asia businesses, despite the hit to industry sales as a result of the global financial crisis.
Click here for more on AXA AP’s results.
