AXA had announced its purchase of half of the shareholdings in Tian Ping, the Chinese property and casualty insurance firm. The sale is pegged at Eur485 million or US$631 million in order to improve its market position in this high-growth industries.
AXA earlier this month sold a portfolio of insurance policies located in the United States worth US$1.1 billion. The firm has been expanding into emerging markets despite sluggish returns because of the current financial crisis worldwide.
AXA and the current shareholders in Tian Ping would control Tian Ping jointly. It is also expected that AXA's current property and casualty operations in China would be integrated to Tian Ping, according to AXA.
The takeover would create the largest foreign property and casualty insurer in China and would also strengthen AXA's position as a P&C insurer in Asia except Japan.
In a statement by AXA CEO Henri de Castries, "This acquisition provides AXA with unique direct distribution capabilities in the fast-growing P&C insurance market in China, thanks to Tian Ping's extensive knowledge of the domestic market."
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