French insurance giant AXA has sold 100% of its Belgian banking operations to cooperative bank Crelan for a total consideration of €690 million.
The deal consists of €610 million in cash and the transfer to AXA Belgium of Crelan Insurance, the insurance company of Crelan valued at €80 million.
In addition, AXA and Crelan have entered into a long-term P&C and Protection insurance distribution partnership which will be effective from the start of 2022.
This extends the existing partnership between AXA Bank Belgium and AXA Belgium to the entire Crelan network.
Thomas Buberl, Chief Executive Officer of AXA, said: “The completion of this transaction marks another step in AXA’s simplification journey. We are pleased to maintain strong links with AXA Bank Belgium through this long-term partnership and to further extend it to Crelan’s network.
“I would like to thank the AXA Bank Belgium teams for their continuous contribution and engagement over the years and wish them all the success for the future with Crelan, leveraging on their combined scale and product offering.”
Originally, AXA agreed to take a 9.9% minority equity stake in Crelan NV and AXA Bank Belgium, investing a total of €90 million, which would’ve been fully financed by the purchase by Crelan.
However, the parties have amended this whereby AXA has now subscribed Additional Tier 1 debt issued by Crelan for an issue price of €245 million.
The completion of the transaction is expected to result in a positive impact of 4 points on AXA Group’s Solvency II ratio in Q4 2021.
