法国安盛联手澳洲同行竞购安盛亚太

French insurer Axa and Australia's AMP have launched one of Asia's biggest unsolicited takeover bids of the year, tabling a joint A$11bn (US$10.2bn) offer for Axa's majority-owned Asian business.

法国保险商安盛(Axa)和澳大利亚安保集团(AMP)发起了本年度亚洲最大的主动收购要约之一，共同出资110亿澳元（合102亿美元）收购安盛持有多数股权的安盛亚洲业务。

The bid, which was rejected by Axa Asia Pacific as inadequate, signalled the French company's intent to expand its presence in some of the world's fastest-growing emerging markets. It marked the second time in five years that it has tried to buy the Asian business outright.

该竞购表明，安盛试图在全球一些增长最快的新兴市场拓展业务。这已经是它在5年内第二次尝试全盘收购安盛亚太。安盛亚太(Axa Asia Pacific)已经以报价不够高为由，拒绝了该收购要约。

Rick Allert, chairman of Axa Asia Pacific, in which the French insurer holds a 53.9 per cent stake, said that the offer was too low and failed to reflect fully the prospects for its high-growth operations.

安盛亚太总裁里克•阿勒特(Rick Allert)表示，这个报价太低，未能充分反映安盛亚太业务高增长的前景。安盛持有安盛亚太53.9%的股权。

“If they come back, then we'll look at whatever they come back with,” Mr Allert said on a conference call.

阿勒特在电话会议上表示：“如果他们回来，无论他们拿出什么方案，我们都会考虑。”

Axa, which is Europe's second largest insurer, yesterday launched a €2bn (US$3bn) rights issue as part of what it called an “aggressive” strategy to fund acquisitions.

作为安盛称为“激进”收购融资策略的一部分，这家欧洲第二大保险商昨日启动20亿欧元（合30亿美元）的配股发行计划。

Henri de Castries, Axa's executive chairman, said of the offer: “It's a reasonable proposal and we are ready to discuss it.”

安盛首席执行官亨瑞•德•卡第(Henri de Castries)提及收购要约时表示：“这是一个合理的提议，我们愿意对它进行讨论。”

“This is an opportunity that will reinforce our exposure to Asia, it will be financed conservatively and maintain in our balance sheet necessary flexibility for other opportunities – we want to be in a situation where we can seize opportunities,” Mr de Castries said.

卡第表示：“这是一个将会加强我们在亚洲地盘的机会，我们将对它进行保守融资，在我们的资产负债表中保持必要的灵活性，以备其它机会来临——我们希望置身于能够抓住机会的地位。”

Under the proposal, AMP would buy all the shares in Axa Asia Pacific, sell the Asian operations to Axa for A$7.7bn and retain the group's Australian and New Zealand units. Axa estimated that the net cost to it would be €1.1bn for the Asian parts of the business.

根据提议，安保将买断安盛亚太集团的所有股票，并将后者的亚洲业务以77亿澳元出售给安盛，同时保留该集团的澳大利亚和新西兰业务。安盛估计，它收购安盛亚太亚洲业务的净成本将为11亿欧元。

英国《金融时报》舍赫拉查德•达内什库(Scheherazade Daneshkhu)巴黎、彼得•史密斯(Peter Smith)悉尼、保罗•J•戴维斯(Paul J. Davies)伦敦报道