By Mark Hawthorne, Eric Johnston and Danny John
NATIONAL Australia Bank chief executive Cameron Clyne has taken personal charge of the negotiations with France's AXA SA, for the $13 billion-plus carve-up of the Australian wealth manager, AXA Asia Pacific.
Within hours of an exclusivity agreement between AXA SA and AMP coming to an end, Mr Clyne boarded a flight from Melbourne to Paris with several board directors and senior executives, intent on dealing directly with AXA SA chief executive Henri de Castries.
AMP 'considering position' after exclusivity expires
At the same time, AXA SA sent its own team to Melbourne to begin due diligence today with NAB on the proposed deal.
The two sides were given the green light to start negotiations after the agreement between AXA SA and its previous bidding partner AMP expired.
Under the terms of that deal, AMP and AXA SA agreed to buy listed AXA Asia Pacific and divide it between them, with AMP taking the Australian and New Zealand businesses and AXA SA the Asian assets. A sweetened offer unveiled by the pair in December put a $4.4 billion price tag on the Australasian operations and $9.6 billion on the Asian division.
In December NAB trumped AMP's offer with a $13.29 billion all-cash bid for AXA Asia Pacific, which valued the Australian and New Zealand businesses at $4.6 billion.
NAB is now free to deal directly with AXA SA, and Mr Clyne intends to conduct face-to-face negotiations with Mr de Castries and his team, including group finance and strategy chief Denis Duverne, at the company's Paris headquarters.
''They don't want to give either AMP or another rival a chance to do this deal,'' said a source close to the negotiations.
''I think Cameron and the board intend to make a statement by travelling to Paris, they want AXA to know just how serious they are about getting a deal done. Cameron is saying 'here we are, here's my board, now let's do a deal'.''
Price is unlikely to be a sticking point, given that the bank is looking to secure the same contribution from the French as AMP obtained.
Neither side has put a deadline on the talks, although both want an in-principle arrangement reached quickly to allow detailed due diligence to proceed smoothly.
For its part, AMP will confirm to the ASX today that the expiry of its exclusivity agreement has left it on the fringes of an AXA deal, watching from the sidelines as NAB seeks to deliver its knock-out blow.
AMP is still free to top NAB's offer, although chief executive Craig Dunn has said he won't overpay for AXA AP. He maintains the battle has some way to go and AMP cannot be considered to be out of it.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is expected to outline its position on the lapsed AMP bid this week. It is also looking into the NAB offer, particularly potential impacts the retail investment market.