On August 1, AXA announced that it has entered into an exclusive negotiation to sell its asset manager AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) to BNP Paribas. The total estimated transaction value is expected to be €5.4 billion, representing a multiple of 15 times 2023 earnings.
Under the terms of the proposed transaction, AXA and BNP Paribas would also enter into a long-term strategic partnership under which BNP Paribas would provide investment management services to AXA. The combination of AXA IM and BNP Paribas would create a leading European asset manager, with total assets under management of €1.5 trillion.
The AXA Group is a worldwide leader in insurance and asset management with 147,000 employees serving 94 million clients in 50 countries.
The S&C team was led by William D. Torchiana, Olivier de Vilmorin, Nicolas de Boynes, Ken Li and Nicolas Karmin, with Rodge Cohen and Mitch Eitel assisting on U.S. bank regulatory matters. The team also includes Brieuc Apffel, Rachel Millet-Barbé, Sarah Barrau-Ceville, Adam Fevrier, Faustia Gaspar Ferreira, Patrick Gaughan, Dylan Handelsman, Céline Icardi, Peter Klormann, Thibault Meynier and Martin Pélissier on corporate matters, with additional due diligence assistance from Ian Forsyth, William Merriam and Jamie Saevitzon. Juan Rodriguez and André Garcia do Fôjo advised on antitrust, foreign investment and foreign subsidies matters. Nader Mousavi, William Bekker and Katherine McClellan advised on intellectual property matters. Alexis Madec and Ralph Gomes de Sousa advised on tax matters.