Axa Financial makes offer of $1.5 billion for MONY Group.Axa Financial Inc., the financial services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. affiliate of France's Axa Group said it would acquire New York-based MONY MONY Mutual of New York (Insurance - Syracuse, NY) Group Inc. for $1.5 billion in cash, in a move that Axa said would boost its distribution reach by nearly 25% and open new geographic markets for Axa products and services. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2004, subject to regulatory and MONY shareholders' approval. Under terms of the deal, MONY shareholders will get $31 for each share of MONY common stock--a premium of 6.2%, based on MONY's closing price on Sept. 16, 2003, Axa said. Christopher Condron, Axa Financial's president and chief executive officer, said MONY would boost Axa's retail insurance and annuity annuity: see insurance. annuity Payment made at a fixed interval. A common example is the payment received by retirees from their pension plan. There are two main classes of annuities: annuities certain and contingent annuities. distribution reach by almost 25%, or 1,300 additional agents, providing "significant additional outlets" for Axa's products and "a significant new presence" in a number of high-growth geographic markets where Axa is "currently underrepresented un·der·rep·re·sent·ed adj. Insufficiently or inadequately represented: the underrepresented minority groups, ignored by the government. ." MONY, which has about $55 billion in assets under management Assets Under Management (AUM) is a term used by financial services companies in the mutual fund and money management or investment management business to gauge how much money they are managing. , would also bring its Advest brokerage business to the mix, serving high-income and high-net-worth clients that would round out Axa's asset management capabilities, he said. "From a distribution standpoint The Standpoint is a newspaper published in the British Virgin Islands. It was originally published under the name Pennysaver, largely as a shopping-coupon promotional newspaper, but since emerged as one of the most influential sources of journalism in the , it's a good fit," said Condron in a conference call. "This is all about growth, it's all about acquiring additional distribution. MONY is significantly ahead of Axa in terms of wholesale markets. In turn, Axa is ahead of MONY in terms of annuities. The merger will also give Axa Financial access to new markets." MONY's brand would probably be converted to Axa's brand name in most aspects of the business, said Condron. |
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