AXA appoints Credit Suisse to sell it’s PE arm Axa Private Equity

Axa, the French insurer appointed Credit Suisse to sell Axa Private Equity, it’s buyout arm.

This decision rests mainly on the fact that financial institutions sell assets to comply with

capital requirements. These requirements are put in place by Solvency II and the Volcker rule

in the United States. 

Moves that are similar to this in recent months, include the sales of Bank of America Merrill

Lynch, HSBC and Goldman Sachs. All of these are private equity businesses.

Private equity partner at advisory firm KPMG, Michael McDonagh, had this to say,

“Anything owned by a financial institution–insurer or bank–is a potential takeover target.”

Axa Private Equity did not comment on the details of the spin out, but a source that is fairly

familiar with the situation said that Axa would not stop investing in the buyout firm’s future

funds.

The source also said that it was too early to determine the exact timing of the completion of

Axa Private Equity’s spin out and its future strategy. He also said that the firm’s shareholders

had expressed that they wanted the firm’s management party to stay exactly the way it is.

Nevertheless, he said that it remained too early to say if they would be any management

changes as a result of the deal or not.

Benoît Verbrugghe has been made a board member of Axa Private Equity. This follows the

New York head helping the French company over the last two years, storming the private

equity secondary market.

As Axa continues to expand its business in North America, Verbrugghe will remain the head

of the New York office.

In June 2013, the insurance captive managed to close in on 7.1billion US Dollars, of

commitments earmarked for consuming a space the firm has dominated in Europe, unwanted

private equity positions.

Its recent spate kicked off in the United States last year. Verbrugghe helped secure a 1.7

billion US Dollar deal with Citigroup in June, the bank offloading LP interests and a portfolio

of direct company shares.

This was followed by a private equity portfolio from Barclays that estimated 740 million US

Dollars.

But Axa’s secondary, post-crunch push began in earnest with a 1.9 billion Dollar deal with

Bank of America. Another major acquisition spearheaded by Verbrugghe, who was made

head of the New York office only three months later.

Also on the executive board is chief executive Dominique Senequier and managing directors

Dominique Gaillard, Vincent Gombault and Stephan Illenberger.

The company is currently owned by France’s largest insurer, ans just over a year ago, it

mandated Credit Suisse to review its options as it looks to eke out its independence. Today

it looks positive with existing LPs, including Canadian pension fund Caisse de Dépôt et

Placement du Québec, that are expected to support the spin-out.