Aussie regulator blocks National Australia Bank bid for Axa Asia Pacific
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Australian regulator the ACCC has blocked National Australia Bank’s proposed purchase of Axa Asia Pacific Holdings due to competition concerns in the platform market.
According to a note from analysts Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, the ACCC has approved a rival offer from AMP. NAB now has six weeks to address the ACCC’s concerns.
On December 13, 2009, Axa and AMP issued a combined proposal to purchase Axa Asia Pacific Holdings. The transaction proposed that 100 per cent of APH’s
businesses would be purchased by AMP, which would then sell on to Axa 100 per cent of APH’s Asian businesses.
As such, AMP would end up with APH’s businesses in Australia and New Zealand and Axa would end up with APH’s businesses in Asia. Axa APH is currently 54 per cent owned by Axa.
On December 17, APH rejected the proposal in favour of an identically structured proposal from NAB. On March 30, Axa and NAB announced the final terms of the deal, pending approval by the Australian regulator.
The ACCC published the results from its investigations into the proposals, saying that it opposed the NAB offer but approved the rivial proposal.
The regulator’s concerns focus on the dominant position a merged NAB/APH entity would have in the market for retail investment platforms. The ACCC also said that it did not see any competition concerns in pensions, insurance and banking.
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