BNP Paribas Group and French insurer AXA have announced they are in exclusive talks to offload AXA Investment Managers to the French bank for €5.1bn ($5.5bn).
The proposed sale of AXA’s investment arm – which has €850bn in assets under management (AUM) – would create a newly formed asset management business within BNP Paribas with €1.5trn in AUM.
If the deal is finalised, BNP Paribas would continue to provide investment services to AXA under a long-term partnership.
The sale is expected to close in mid-2025 following regulatory approvals. The €5.1bn price tag represents a multiple of 15x 2023 earnings for AXA’s investment business, the firm said.
BNP Paribas CEO Jean-Laurent Bonnafé said the deal would give the firm “a critical size in public and alternative assets” which would allow the French bank to “serve its customer base of insurers, pension funds, banking networks and distributors more efficiently”.
It would also make the newly combined entity the second largest pure-play asset manager in Europe, behind Amundi which has €2.2trn in AUM.
Thomas Buberl, CEO of AXA said the sale of its investment arm was made “in the context of a rapidly consolidating and highly competitive asset management industry”.
Under the proposed deal terms for AXA Investment Managers, BNP will also be purchasing AXA’s fund services business Select, for €300m in a linked sale.
