AXA, the French insurance giant, said on Thursday that it will sell its Isle of Man offshore investment business to the Life Company Consolidation Group, which was founded in 2013 with the purpose of buying and consolidating life company books across Europe.
The purchase price and other details of the sale weren’t disclosed. In a brief statement, AXA noted that the deal was subject to regulatory approval and is expected to be completed later in the year.
AXA Isle of Man provides offshore bonds and similar products. It is a part of AXA’s AXA Wealth division.
Earlier this month it was reported that Standard Life had made a bid for AXA’s Elevate platform.
According to the Life Company Consolidation Group (LCCG) website, the company is headed up by Paul Thompson and Ian Maidens, and operates out of a London head office, with a Guernsey holding company and an operational entity, Harcourt Life Assurance Co, in Dublin.
Among Thompson’s previous experience was a stint as Group finance director and later CEO of Britannic Group, which went on to become a life fund consolidator before merging with Resolution I in 2005. Thompson was named Group CEO of that business, ahead of its 2007 sale to Pearl Group – which changed its name to Phoenix Group in 2010.
Maidens also spent time with Resolution I, from its inception in 2003, and became a founding partner of Resolution II in 2008, where he was involved in helping to put together what eventually became known as the Friends Life Group.
Other recent LCCG acquisitions, via its Harcourt operation, according to the company’s website, include Scottish Mutual International from Phoenix Life, in December. Earlier this month, Harcourt agreed a deal to acquire Aviva Life International from Aviva plc.
That deal is also due to complete later in 2016, LCCG said.
For its part, AXA has been on the selling side of other recent transactions, including several Portuguese business it completed the sale on earlier this month, to Ageas, for €189m. In February, though, it acquired an 8% stake in a Nigerian online retail group Called Africa Internet, in what was seen as a move by the insurance company to get in early on a growing means of reaching new clients in one of the world’s potentially largest markets for insurance.
