AXA/AMP: wielding the Axa

John Foley Axa has hatched a clever cash-lite minority buyout for cash-lite times. The French financial group wants to cherry-pick the Asian assets out of its 54%-owned Australian subsidiary, Axa Asia-Pacific (AAP). Its plan: enlist a local rival to buy the whole company for A$11bn ($10bn), and then buy most of it back. For Axa, a carve-up of AAP makes sense. Chief executive Henri de Castries tried to buy out the minorities five years ago, but the independent directors cried foul. The proposed...