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LEARNING OBJECTIVE:
To provide information on the company’s over-all business strategy being included in the top Fortune 500 list of companies.
COMPANY BACKGROUND
AXA is the holding company for an international financial services group focused on financial protection, insurance and asset management with headquarters in France. Thus, AXA is not the name of a single company but a group of companies independently organized and operated according to the regulations of many different countries.
AXA operates primarily in Western Europe, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, North America, the Asia-Pacific region and, to a lesser extent, in other regions, including in particular the Middle East and Africa.
The Company has five (5) operating business segments: Life & Savings, Property & Casualty, International Insurance (including reinsurance), Asset Management, and Other Financial Services (including banks).
TRIVIA: The AXA name
Despite always being written in upper case, “AXA” is not an acronym, but was chosen because its name can be pronounced easily by people who speak any language. In fact AXA as a name was also specifically chosen as it has no meaning in any language.
Originally named Ancienne Mutuelle, the firm renamed itself Mutuelles Unies after acquiring another insurer in 1978; the present name dates to 1985.
CORPORATE HISTORY
1700 — 1900
The period spanning the 18th and 19th centuries saw the creation of many of the companies which later combined to form parts of the global AXA Group. The most prominent amongst these include Royal Exchange Assurance (1720), Sun Life (1810), Ancienne Mutuelle (1817), Guardian Assurance (1821) and Equity & Law (1844).
1901 — 1980
The first eighty years of the 20th century witnessed the establishment of yet more major players – including the Provincial Insurance Company (1903) and the Guardian Royal Exchange Group (1968) – and the first in a series of mergers that would eventually lead to the creation of AXA.
1981 – Present day
The name AXA was introduced to the world in 1985. Three years later, the company merges with the Compagnie du Midi and is traded on the Paris Stock Exchange. 1990 saw the launch of AXA Insurance in Cardiff, and on the 12th November 1996 the eagerly awaited AXA-UAP merger is announced, bringing Sun Life & Provincial Holdings (SLPH) into the fold. Since then, AXA has completed the acquisition of the minority shareholding in SLPH. Today AXA sponsors British Drama on ITV3 and the Pro-Am European Golf Seniors Tour.
In 1980, AXA did not exist. Over the next 20 years, the Group would grow to become a major international player.
MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS
=AXA has completed the acquisition of Winterthur
=AXA has completed the sale of AXA REs business
=Thirteenth Shareplan program results in employee ownership of 5.06% of AXAs equity capital
=Successful squeeze-out of German minority shareholders
=Second edition of Retirement Scope
=AXA Asia Pacific Holdings acquires MLC Hong Kong and MLC Indonesia
=AXA offers the Louvre a new masterpiece, the portait of the Duke of Orleans
=AXA-FINAXA merger, simplifying AXAs system of capital ownership and control.
=Germany: AXA buys out AXA Konzern minority interests.
=Twelfth Shareplan program results in employee ownership of 5.62% of AXAs equity capital.
=AXA Investment Managers acquires the Framlington group.
=AXA Financial sells its subsidiary Advest Group, Inc. To Merrill Lynch.
=AXA creates the region “Northern Europe”.
=Portugal: AXA acquires Seguro Directo.
=Henri de Castries launches Ambition 2012.The Group sets an ambitious objective: become the preferred company in its industry by 2012.
=The AXA brand turns 20
=AXA Tech begins operations in India.
=AXA disposes of its insurance business in Uruguay.
=AXA gains strength in the Middle East, creating AXA Gulf.
=AXA creates the region “Northern Europe” to accelerate organic growth and improve the efficiency of its operations in the region. This region includes AXA subsidiaries operating in Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland.
=At the Groups Annual General Meeting, shareholders voted to approve a first resolution amending AXAs bylaws to allow for an employee shareholder representative to be elected to the Supervisory Board.
=AXA gains strength in the US market by acquiring MONY (Mutual of New York), now a wholly owned subsidiary of AXA Financial.
=The AXA Financial manufacturing company – known as The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States – officially changes its name to AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company.
=At the close of the eleventh Shareplan employee stock ownership program, more than half of AXAs employees are AXA shareholders, and together own 5.14% of total share capital.
=AXA creates “the Mediterranean” region includes AXA subsidiaries operating in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Turkey, Morocco, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
=AXA gains strength in Asia:
– The Philippines and Thailand: via a joint venture with banking partners;
– Indonesia: via a joint venture with Bank Mandiri, Indonesias largest bank, AXA rises to third place in this market;
– China: new office opens in Guangzhou.
=AXA announces its bid to acquire US life insurer MONY (Mutual of New York). The deal is subject to the approval of MONY